The Ugly

While directing a documentary crew that follows his blind father at work, Im Dong-hwan receives a call that his mother's body has in fact been located after forty years. The discovery forces him to step into a labyrinthine history his family has kept hidden. He pursues a careful trail of memories and testimonies, hoping to understand what happened to the woman who vanished. As clues accumulate, old wounds reopen and loyalties fray, revealing how a single disappearance has long shaped the people around him. The hunt for truth becomes a tense, morally charged test of what a family owes to its past and to itself.

Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, The Ugly released in 2025 as a mystery thriller from an original screenplay. The film showcases a tight, character driven narrative and draws on themes common in his previous work about family and hidden history.

The movie centers memory, family secrets, and the cost of uncovering truth. With a restrained style and escalating tension, it probes how a past disappearance reshapes present loyalties and casts doubt on what family means when the truth finally surfaces.