Once Upon a Time in HIgh School: Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (DVD) (Japan Version) DVD Region 2

The one catching most of the limelight should be leading man Kwon Sang-woo. From the angry held-back student in My Tutor Friend to the romantic lover in Stairway To Heaven, Kwon has proved himself to be one multi-faceted actor. Now in Once Upon A Time In High School, his time spent on bodybuilding has paid off well as Kwon plays a die-hard Bruce Lee fan who shares the kung fu master's sense of justice and fights against school violence with just a pair of nunchakus.

The school violence movie is no new genre at all. Unlike the Hong Kong production My School Mate, The Barbarian featuring one-on-one grapples or the Korean surreal precedent Volcano High, however, Once Upon a Time in High School brings this genre to a new level. It gives a realistic depiction of the high school students who live in the clutches of hostility and bullying. Jeong Mun High School is where class struggles and extreme hegemony prevail. No school rule can prevent those authoritative teachers from exercising corporal punishment on students and those local tyrants from bullying the weak. As a huge fan of Bruce Lee, Hyun-soo (Kwon Sang-woo) meets another fan Woo-sik (Lee Jung-jin) and that is when their friendship begins. A love triangle, however, is bred when these two young men fall in love with the same girl at school.

But brotherhood still prevails. When he finds Woo-sik beaten up hard and at the same time dumped by his girlfriend, Hyun-soo cannot hold back his rage and anger any longer. Vowing revenge, this high school student trains himself in Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as well as the related martial arts philosophy. Only after being fully prepared does he grab a pair of nunchakus and confront the culprit school gang on the rooftop. Despite being under siege at first, Hyun-soo wins a landslide victory with his bare hands. There are actually only a few combat scenes in the movie. However, the theme of fighting for justice is made evident as references to Bruce Lee's fighting style and his righteous mind are made.

Parental guidance is definitely needed in this movie because of the frequent use of coarse language and the disturbing scenes of savage beating. However, it is still delightful to find a sweet storyline interweaving love with brutality. Hyun-soo has a love-at-first-sight crush on Eun-ju (Han Ga-in) while meeting this lovely girl on a bus. Just like the love relationships in another Korean blockbuster The Classic, the director leaves a big hole in Hyun-soo's life as he is too shy to deliver his love. His being a bashful young man with his face blushed is a big contrast to his belligerence, which makes this movie excel with a fresh and creative plot.

Once Upon a Time in High School does not explore the father-and-son relationship to the extent that would have been needed to explain how far Hyun-soo's character was influenced by it. Finally, the movie closes with not much of a concrete ending but a prophecy that a new kung fu generation is waiting just around the corner. Does it mean that there is going to be a sequel?

Reviewed by Garden

Translated by Holly