Director Yeon Sang-ho explores cruelty, resilience behind the Korean economic miracle in latest film 'The Ugly'

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Director Yeon Sang-ho explores cruelty, resilience behind the Korean economic miracle in latest film 'The Ugly'

Published: 25 Sep. 2025, 07:00

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A scene from the film ″The Ugly.″ [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

In auteur Yeon Sang-ho's latest feature film "The Ugly," the director turns his gaze toward how society labels people as “ugly” and the scars such judgment leaves behind. Based on his own webtoon of the same title, the film follows the life and death of a woman long dismissed for her looks, unraveling painful truths about prejudice, cruelty and resilience.

The film, which was released on Sept. 11, peels back layers of human cruelty, exposing how the stigma of ugliness functions as a violent social label and how prejudice and hatred quietly grow within a community.

The story begins with a documentary about Young-gyu, played by Kwon Hae-hyo, who overcame blindness and became a master seal engraver. His son Dong-hwan, played by Park Jeong-min, learns that his mother Young-hee, played by Shin Hyun-bin, who disappeared 40 years ago, has been found as a skeleton.

He sets out to uncover the truth about her death with Su-jin, a documentary producer played by Han Ji-hyun, who is desperate for a scoop. At the funeral, relatives and former factory colleagues remember Young-hee only for her looks, calling her “ugly.” At the Cheonggyecheon garment factory where she worked, people derisively nicknamed her “dung rag.”

Through Young-hee’s tragic life, endured under harsh judgment and prejudice, "The Ugly" delivers a heavy social message and lasting resonance.

Director Yeon, who has explored the darker aspects of society in works such as "The King of Pigs" (2011), "The Fake" (2013) and "Hellbound" (2021), returns with sharp satire and an unflinching eye.

“I began this project by asking where my own obsession with achievement comes from,” Yeon said in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at a cafe in central Seoul on Sept. 15. “I built the story around the contrast between Young-gyu and Young-hee.”

He explained that Young-gyu, praised as a “living miracle” for overcoming blindness, represents the optimism of the 1970s, when Korea experienced rapid economic growth. By contrast, Young-hee embodies those who bore the pain of prejudice and exclusion during that same period.

In the film ″The Ugly,″ Young-gyu, a master of seal engraver played by Kwon Hae-hyo, is shown in his younger days. [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

“This is a film that asks what our modern history of rapid growth cost us, and whom it exploited,” Yeon said. “Situations like this still occur today, and I hope this allegory can offer something useful when they do.”

The film never reveals Young-hee’s face until the very end. Keeping her unseen magnifies both Young-gyu’s turmoil and the audience’s curiosity.

"'The Ugly' leads viewers into Young-gyu’s distorted inner world," Yeon said. "To achieve that, I needed the audience, like Young-gyu, to imagine Young-hee’s face."

He added that the final scene shows a photo meant to represent a face that is "nowhere yet everywhere."

"I wanted Young-hee's face to push the film beyond fiction and into reality," Yeon said.

Young-hee’s image was created by digitally blending Shin’s features with those of women her age from the 1970s. Yeon said this marked the biggest change from the original webtoon, where he reimagined Young-hee as a more self-directed character.

A scene from the film ″The Ugly.″ [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

The film was shot on a budget of approximately 200 million won ($144,000) and completed in three weeks, yet still manages to realistically recreate the streets of Cheonggyecheon and the garment factories of the 1970s.

"Working on a small budget meant I could take time to talk with the actors without pressure," Yeon said. "I wanted to show that if the content is strong, even a small film can succeed."

In fact, the performances anchor the film. Park plays both the younger Young-gyu and his son Dong-hwan, switching seamlessly between the two roles, while Kwon brings depth with his long-honed craft.

"Park agreed to the role without taking a fee, which allowed us to begin," Yeon said. "And when Kwon delivered Young-gyu’s monologues about the past, everyone felt as if he had become the character.'

Yeon added that the casting had nothing to do with the fact that Park’s father and Kwon’s father-in-law are both visually impaired.

"Kwon’s father-in-law actually used the watch Young-gyu wears early in the film," he said.

Because Shin's face never appears, she relied on subtle gestures and tone of voice to shape the role.

"It was a big challenge for her as an actor to perform so experimentally," Yeon said.

Yeon’s next project, "Colony," explores a mysterious virus that mutates its victims in unpredictable ways, threatening the survivors.

“It is about AI and collectivism, and it will deliver a different kind of horror than 'Train to Busan (2016),'” he said. "If I return to animation, I want to make something more commercial than my previous works.

“Today’s theater films tend to minimize risk and cater to broad tastes. But I don’t think that is a good direction. Regardless of budget, films should be sharper and more distinctive if we want audiences to be delighted.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG HYUN-MOK [[email protected]]