Juri Rechinsky is eager to seek out the dark edges of human existence. Just look at the titles of his previous films: the short Why so Happy and the documentary Sickfuckpeople, which portrays the life of a group of young Ukrainian drug addicts on the verge of adulthood. Rechinsky’s first feature is called Ugly and, in the words of the director, it focuses on human suffering and the apparent impossibility of happiness. It revolves around a young couple, Austrian Hanna and Ukrainian Jura, and both their families. Without exception, they have a hard time: they suffer, wrestle, lose and despair. In the way in which his characters try to work their way up, Rechinsky also shows between the lines the great differences in mentality between his homeland Ukraine and Austria, the country where he now works. A split that cuts through the whole of Europe.