Review of Judgement / 심판, directed by Park Chan-wook

So here’s a fun fact: I’ve seen almost all of Park Chan-wook’s movies throughout the years, and have written about his feature lengths quite a few times before academically and for my critic gigs, but I had never realized he had made this short film.

I’ve definitely come across the name Judgement before, but it never clicked that this was something out in the world I could watch.

When my Fall 2023 semester of graduate school wrapped up, I was desperately looking for something to do in order to fill the void of what was previously filled with work and getting my readings done for the next week.

I was mindlessly scrolling through MUBI in search of something to watch when I landed on this. I was curious, I saw it was by Park Chan-wook, and it was short enough that I could watch it easily in one go.

So, at one in the morning, I decided to sit down and watch all of this before going to bed. And it was definitely worth it, that’s what I would say.

Let’s get into the review.

A debate over whose body is laying in front of everyone.

The context behind this short film, which the full version I linked above on YouTube, is that in 1995, a department store in South Korea collapsed and killed quite a few people.

Known as the Sampoong Department Store collapse, over five hundred were killed and almost another thousand were left injured.

What had happened here was the department store had been made in the late eighties, and the original company hired to build it had backed out after the head of Sampoong Group’s construction insisted on changes that would really screw up the foundations. This is what ultimately caused the collapse five years later.

Judgement begins with a dead body being in the center of the room. We know it was a young girl, and she died in the middle of the Sampoong Collapse. In order to appease the family, a settlement has been offered, but the movie is about a fight in the midst of the morgue. There are two different families claiming her as their own.

First, there’s the family of a middle-aged couple, who has an entire story about their daughter who ran away.

They insist this is their runaway daughter, and this is the fate that has come onto her.

The other person claiming her works in the morgue; they say that their daughter disappeared almost seven years ago now, and that this has to be her.

So all of these people are literally standing over the dead girl’s body, with other employees present, and debating about who exactly she is.

Of course money is involved with these talks because of the settlement, so whoever actually is related to the girl (or proves their argument over the other person) is going to get a ton of money for it. As the short film hurtles towards it climax, we get a fun little twist in a true Park Chan-wook style.

It’s also important to note the usage of documentary footage. It’s scattered throughout the arguments, showing how very real things are happening in reality.

Overall Thoughts

Judgement is a classic Park Chan-wook movie, as he’s presenting some compelling material compiled into a neat little segment under thirty minutes.

Lots to think about after this one, as many of the themes are still quite relevant today. There’s also a neat little touch of dark humor to all of this, making it even more interesting considering the said topics he’s bringing up and how he uses the humor with it.

All in all, I’m really glad I watched this short film, and suggest you do too (if interested), if you haven’t already.

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