Judgement (1999)

I have a hit or miss film relationship with Park Chan Wook. Happily, the twenty-six minute film, Judgement, fell into the former category. As expected, it was dark and showed the twisted side of humanity, often driven by need or greed.

A young woman’s body was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed department store without any form of ID. Due to the nature of her injuries and the length of time she was buried, identifying her corpse proved difficult. After a settlement with the department store is finalized regarding compensation to the families, the body is awarded to a family claiming her. As grieving parents are set to sign official paperwork, a morgue worker enters claiming he believes the young woman is his missing daughter. That’s not an end to the surprises.

Park used real life news clips from a variety of disasters, both architectural and natural. The 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse that killed 502 people and injured 937 was surely the inspiration for the powerful short. He also used a clip from the Seongsu Bridge collapse that cost 32 people their lives nine months before the department store catastrophe.

Most of Judgement was filmed in black and white adding to the surreal nature of the encounters. Who was in it for the money, was there collusion, or was someone truly grief stricken? Park kept the audience off balance and continually guessing. Was judgement rendered? Oh, yeah… Is the film worth 26 minutes of your time? If you enjoy Park’s work or strange short films rooted in reality, then it’s definitely worth a look.

29 September 2026

Trigger warning: Missing body part, breast image, decomposed body. Real life news clips of people and bodies being recovered from disasters.

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It was only 26 minutes but it was so intense. I wasn't expecting that ending at all. This was definitely the shocking part of the film.

The atmosphere in the first part of the film was tense but mixed with some seemingly peaceful moments. The first part also focused on finding a way to determine who the family of the deceased is. The second part focused on presenting the solution to the argument. And the ending was an unexpected culmination of the whole film.

Park Chan-wook made sure that the viewer felt some discomfort while watching this film. It is provocative.

"Judgment" is a really good short film.

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