Once Upon a Time in High School

Once Upon a Time in High School: The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do
Theatrical poster
Hangul	말죽거리 잔혹사
Directed by	Yoo Ha
Produced by	Cha Seung-jae No Jong-yoon
Written by	Yoo Ha
Starring	Kwon Sang-woo Han Ga-in Lee Jeong-jin
Music by	Kim Joon-seok
Cinematography	Choi Hyeon-gi
Editing by	Park Gok-ji
Studio	Sidus FnH
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date(s)	January 16, 2004
Running time	116 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Admissions	3,115,767

Once Upon a Time in High School: The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (Korean: 말죽거리 잔혹사) is a 2004 South Korean drama film. The background of the film is set in a high school in South Korea, 1978. The original Korean title literally means "Cruel history of Maljuk street" where filming was located in the present neighborhood of Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu district, Seoul.^[1][2]

Plot

Kwon, who starred as Hyun-soo, transfers to another school. He is sent to a bottom-rank class and experiences violence in classroom by a group of gangsters in his class, led by Jong-hoon, who is a stereotypical Korean bully in school. The teachers are also depicted as authoritarian to the students, using violence for the sake of discipline, as did most Korean teachers in the '70s and to some extent in modern days as well.

Hyun-soo, after a failed relationship with Eun-joo (played by Han Ga In) , decides that he will no longer put up with the conduct of Jong-hun and his boys as well as the harsh and violent disciplinary techniques being put up by the teachers, and so starts to train himself in Jeet Kune Do, inspired by his greatest hero Bruce Lee. His father, a master in Tae Kwon Do, frequently resorted to extreme violence to discipline his son.

Hyun-soo challenges Jong-hoon to a duel one day when he is no longer able to put up with his irrational behaviour. Jong-hoon and his friends are grievously injured by Hyun-soo's nunchaku. Hyun-soo is expelled after this incident.

Hyun-soo meets his friend Hamburger again at the GED institute and they talk about their past. He meets Eun-joo again, but they say their goodbyes on a bus. The film ends with Hamburger and Hyun-soo outside of a movie theater showing Jackie Chan's 1978 movie Drunken Master, rough-housing as they argue about Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.

References

1. ^ "서울, 아는 만큼 즐긴다!: 말죽거리를 아시나요?" (in Korean). Seoul City Hall. 2006-03-20. http://www.visitseoul.net/visit2006/article/article_view.jsp?seq=1102. 
2. ^ "(영화 속의 서울) 영화 ‘말죽거리 잔혹사’와 암사동 점마을" (in Korean). Dong-a Ilbo. 2005-03-18. http://www.donga.com/fbin/moeum?n=society$c_194&a=v&l=3&id=200503180248. 

External links

• Once Upon a Time in High School at the Korean Movie Database
• Once Upon a Time in High School at the Internet Movie Database
• Once Upon a Time in High School at HanCinema
• Once Upon a Time in High School at AllRovi
• Once Upon a Time in High School at Rotten Tomatoes