Maljukgeori janhoksa (2004)

Director:

Ha Yu

Writer:

Ha Yu (writer)

Release Date:

16 January 2004 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

By "Fist of Fury", Kim Hyun-Soo (Sang-Woo Kwone) addicted to Bruce Lee. Year 1978. Hyun-Soo moved to KangNam...

Plot Keywords:

Once Upon A Time In The Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Sang-woo Kwone	...	Hyeon-su
Jeong-jin Lee	...	Woo-shik
Ga-in Han	...	Eun-ju
Hyo-jun Park	...	Hamburger
Won-kwon Kim	...	Jiksae
Jong-hyeok Lee	...	Jong-hun
Dong-won Seo	...	Seong-hun
Byeong-chun Kim
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bu-seon Kim
Han-seok Yang

Also Known As:

The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (South Korea) (USA)
Maljuk (South Korea)
Maljuk1978 (Hong Kong: English title) (informal short title)
Once Up on a Time in High School (International: English title) (long title)
Once Upon a Time in High School (DVD title)

Runtime:

South Korea:116 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15

Company:

Sidus Pictures

English title is misnomer

"The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do" is a misnomer for the title of this movie. When I saw that and watched the movie, I was expecting to see a martial arts movie all about Jeet Kune Do.

The actual translation of the title, I later learned, is "Maljuk Street's High School." And that's what this movie is all about actually. It's about a high school student's experiences at a high school. It's not a military school, by the way.

I thought the movie had a good story line and great acting. I especially enjoyed the lead's and "Hamburger's" acting, very well done. The cinematography was good as well, and the fight scenes were realistic and well choreographed.

People not experienced with Korean movies and dramas will note the "weak" ending in this movie. But I've come to find that almost all Korean movies and dramas do not have as impactful an ending as American movie-goers are used to seeing. Perhaps it's a cultural thing.

Either way, I really enjoyed this movie. It's also a great periodic film, in my opinion. If you want a look into what Korean high schools were like from WWII up until recently in the late eighties, then this movie will give you an insightful look. Non-Koreans may be believe that this movie exaggerates many aspects of high school life, but it doesn't at all. My father (born and graduated high school from Korea) loves the movie, and thinks it portrayed some high school experiences very accurately.