South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho first caught international attention in 2016, when he unleashed the unique zombie horror of Train to Busan upon the world. From there, he built out his zombie-infested franchise with the animated prequel Seoul Station and the souped-up action movie Peninsula. For his latest, The Ugly, Yeon leaves the monsters behind, but he’s created a chilling thriller all the same.
Like Train to Busan, his latest centers on a father and child. But rather than the workaholic businessman learning to dedicate himself to his love-starved young daughter (specifically so she won’t be turned into a literal ankle-biter), The Ugly explores the relationship between another single, hardworking father and the grown son following in his footsteps. However, the lessons learned from this family story are less hopeful than those from Train to Busan.
So, brace yourself.
What’s The Ugly about?
Yeon adapted his own debut graphic novel, Face, for the screenplay, which centers on Dong-hwan (Park Jeong-min), a fortysomething Korean man who works with his blind father, Yeong-gyu (Kwon Hae-hyo), a renowned engraver. His whole life, Dong-hwan has been at his father’s side, watching how he overcame adversity and the mockery of others to become not just a success in his business but also a celebrity, heralded by newspapers as a “living miracle” for his engraving skills.
Actually, Dong-hwan is pretty over all this fawning, which is where The Ugly begins. A TV producer named Su-jin (Han Ji-hyeon), seemingly the latest in a long line, is pestering Yeong-gyu for an interview and B-roll footage, when Dong-hwan gets a very strange phone call. The authorities have found a pile of bones buried on a mountainside. The ID card found with them suggests they belong to his mother, Young-hee, who ran off four decades ago.
With the help of the story-hungry Su-jin, Dong-hwan seeks to understand not just what befell his mother, but also who she was — and if she was ugly.
The Ugly calls into question what “ugly” means.
All Dong-hwan knows about his mother is that she left him and his father. Whatever else might have been shared has been unspoken between them. But with the confirmation of her death, others in her life have plenty to say. Long-lost family members, former co-workers at a clothing factory, and her old boss are all quick to agree on one thing: She was ugly.
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Masquerading as a writer for the TV documentary, Dong-hwan is able to get an unfiltered view from these strangers, who readily compare his mom to a monster in her appearance and giggle over her nickname, Dung Ogre. They recount stories meant to illustrate what a mess of a person she was. But with each one, Dong-hwan instead sees a woman who pointed out the ugly truth, even when it made her unpopular.
Yeon Sang-ho withholds a key detail to keep viewers on their toes.
Credit: Well Go USA
In seeking to know his mother, one thing Dong-hwan wants deeply is to see her. He was so young when she died that he has no memory of her. His father, being a blind man, has no photos of her. And even her family insists she was camera-shy because “she was ugly.” A photo of her would be a way to properly remember her at her funeral, where her remains are just bones. But more than that, it would be a way for her to become real to Dong-hwan.
Yeon illustrates Dong-hwan’s journey to understand his mother by presenting flashback scenes that reflect his perspective, not that of the story’s teller. What I mean by this is, even when stories are told from those who despise her and call her “ugly,” Yeon never shows her face. Either it’s obstructed by the long, lanky dark hair that hangs down from her head and onto her shoulders, or it’s just out of frame. Whether or not she is ugly is not a question we are invited to answer in these scenes. Instead, we are urged to judge her by her actions — as her son does.
Yeon Sang-ho delivers a twisted crime tale.
The answers to the murder mystery are not wildly surprising. But to Yeon’s credit, they are well charted. With each interview, Dong-hwan plays detective, piecing together who could have possibly wanted his mother dead. The reveals are satisfyingly gut-wrenching.
Beyond that, however, in seeking her, he comes to better understand his father too. Through old stories unearthed, he sees how his father and mother responded differently to challenges. And so, now more than ever before, Dong-hwan is left to wonder who he resembles. It’s a point brought up by the TV producer Su-jin, who says early on that Dong-hwan looks like his dad. But “resembles” takes on a deeper meaning as he learns ugly truths. In what ways is he like his dad and like his mom? This question becomes the one that will stick with you.
In the end, The Ugly is a stirring thriller, bolstered by dark twists, and paid off with a final scene that plays like a monkey’s paw curling. What if what you want is ultimately what you get? Can you handle it?
The Ugly was reviewed out of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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![Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware | TechCrunch
Security researchers have confirmed that a European politician had his phone hacked with the Pegasus spyware while serving on an investigatory committee probing abuses of the notorious surveillance tool. This has reigniting fresh controversy over governments abusing spyware to collect information about their critics.
The researchers at the University of Toronto’s digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say the confirmed phone hacking of Greek journalist and former politician Stelios Kouloglou during 2022 and 2023 marks the first time that a member of the European Parliament’s PEGA committee, tasked with investigating phone spyware attacks by European governments, has been publicly identified as a victim of spyware.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Last year, the spyware maker confirmed an unnamed American investment group funneled tens of millions of dollars into the company, likely as part of an effort to rehabilitate NSO’s beleaguered brand associated with enabling human rights abuses.
Kouloglou said he was going public with his story “for democracy, human rights, and the fight against corruption.”
“Corruption concerns everybody,” he said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Politician #investigated #spyware #abuses #phone #hacked #Pegasus #spyware #TechCrunchSpyware,Pegasus,cybersecurity,NSO Group](https://i0.wp.com/techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/stelios-1243041618.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 "Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware | TechCrunch
Security researchers have confirmed that a European politician had his phone hacked with the Pegasus spyware while serving on an investigatory committee probing abuses of the notorious surveillance tool. This has reigniting fresh controversy over governments abusing spyware to collect information about their critics.
The researchers at the University of Toronto’s digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say the confirmed phone hacking of Greek journalist and former politician Stelios Kouloglou during 2022 and 2023 marks the first time that a member of the European Parliament’s PEGA committee, tasked with investigating phone spyware attacks by European governments, has been publicly identified as a victim of spyware.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Last year, the spyware maker confirmed an unnamed American investment group funneled tens of millions of dollars into the company, likely as part of an effort to rehabilitate NSO’s beleaguered brand associated with enabling human rights abuses.
Kouloglou said he was going public with his story “for democracy, human rights, and the fight against corruption.”
“Corruption concerns everybody,” he said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Politician #investigated #spyware #abuses #phone #hacked #Pegasus #spyware #TechCrunchSpyware,Pegasus,cybersecurity,NSO Group")
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