It's about Passion, Ambition, and Desperation to achieve one's goal.

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2015)

Young director Damien Chazelle's second feature, about a talented and ambitious young jazz drummer, takes us into the cutthroat, struggling and hardworking world of top-notch jazz musicians. The story is linear and simple, but offers so much insight into that world. The two actors selected to portray the main characters, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, are perfect; they were meant for the roles. They get into the shoes of the characters with such ease. Even the few scenes with side characters, like Andrew's dad, girlfriend and fellow drummers, are quite interesting.
The story is mainly about passion, ambition, and desperation to achieve one's goal. It also sheds light on the things one decide to sacrifice in order to achieve their goal.
Positive reinforcement vs negative criticism, which is more effective? This is a debate that has been going on for ages. The former might work for some, while the latter might work for others. Ultimately, it depends on the individual and his/her upbringing; everyone responds to different things.
The story is packed with humour and inspiring moments. Simmons' dialogues are just fantastic; it might seem vulgar to some, but they're just hilarious. Other than the actual instruments being played, no background score is used at all; this works quite well for the movie. Nothing seems staged, everything takes place with such natural ease.
And all this leads up to a foottappingly mesmerising climax. The open-ended approach was good. And the film's topics beg to be discussed and debated among groups.