Where to Watch in
Free
Plot
In "Once Upon a Time in High School" (2004), the year is 1978 and Bruce Lee fanatic Kim Hyun-Soo (Sang-Woo Kwone) finds himself navigating the trials and tribulations of teenage life in Seoul's bustling KangNam district. Transferred to JungMoon High, the spirited Hyun-Soo quickly befriends fellow Bruce Lee enthusiast Kim Woo-Sik and the cheeky, mischief-maker known as Hamburger, who has a penchant for smuggling adult magazines into school.
Born into a family of TaeKwonDo practitioners, Hyun-Soo is under constant pressure from his father to excel academically. Amidst the classroom politics and occasional punishment meted out by school soldiers, the young Hyun-Soo finds solace in the form of Kang Eun-Ju (EunYang Female High), a striking female Bruce Lee admirer with a love for ABBA and Celsia Chan. An innocent romance blossoms between them, complicated only by the advances of Woo-Sik and the antagonistic Cha Jung-Hoon, the intimidating head of a school gang.
In this coming-of-age tale, Hyun-Soo and his friends navigate the roller coaster of adolescence, set against a backdrop of midnight radio programs and bus rides on the #78. The narrative unfolds through a series of events that include rooftop battles, heartfelt conversations, and fervent postcard exchanges with a favorite radio program. Along the way, the characters are tested, friendships are strained and rekindled, and young love ebbs and flows.
When Hyun-Soo is threatened by Jung-Hoon's gang, he resolves to prepare himself for the inevitable confrontation. The ensuing rooftop battle is a turning point in his life, leading him to question the very system he is a part of. In a defiant act of rebellion, Hyun-Soo proclaims his disdain for all Korean schools, leaving his father to deal with the aftermath.
In the end, Hyun-Soo, now a GED student, reconnects with Hamburger and discovers that his love, Eun-Ju, is also attending the same study center. As the film concludes, Hyun-Soo, still a dedicated disciple of Bruce Lee, finds himself defending his idol's honor outside a movie theater, ensuring that this chapter of his life ends as it began - with a fight.
Where to watch Once Upon a Time in High School?
Once Upon a Time in High School is an action movie featuring Lee Jung-jin.
Once Upon a Time in High School is currently streaming for free (ad-supported) on Tubi TV.