Possible Spoiler: Acceptable of difference in perspective is pivotal

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2015)

Aside from the abusive teaching style (which I thought was laid on a LITTLE thick) I still feel that this movie deserves high ratings. I felt that the editing style aided the stress, tension and ambition for Andrew (Miles Teller's character) to show that he really was working as hard as he could ( I could see why it won for best editing for the Oscars). The quick fast cuts of when Andrew was practicing in his room, hands bleeding, etc expresses his motivation and determination for the ending goal he's working towards.
The feel and atmosphere of the film was also aided by the color and somewhat lack of lighting contrast in the film. It came off to me almost like noir-ish due to the low-key lighting. I felt that this style helped create the feeling that while this movie was about inspiration and shooting for your dreams, the road there was a harsh uphill climb.
As for character development, Andrew's character when through not only development, but also a change. When we first saw his character, he was interested in becoming "the next Buddy rich" but throughout the movie he found that he had to show Fletcher that he was worth it. During that transition, he went into and then destroyed an intimate relationship, cut off ties with family, all to show that his focus and attention was towards proving his worth to Fletcher.
As for Fletcher's character development, you saw both sides of his persona .You find that he wants to push his students to the max and unfortunately through that, he because a somewhat of an abusive teacher. I don't feel from how I viewed his character, that his abusive characteristics were solely stemmed from a history but from a teaching style (maybe previously acquired from a teacher of his own). I think this is proved when Andrew meets him after an absence at the Jazz club they sit down and talk and Fletcher says "There are no two words worse in the English language than "Good Job"". This dialogue in itself I feel proves that while his style is somewhat abusive, it shoves that there's a somewhat "Method to his madness". While he was abusive and I not one to condone such behavior, through some of Fletcher's dialogue he shows that his unorthodox teaching style promoted persistence, ambition and self confidence in his students.
The subject matter of abuse while hard to watch is a point of interest/trend for movies nowadays, Tarantino being the leader in this. I remember watching an interview with Tarintino once and the interviewer asked "why are your films so dark and abusive. Don't you want to show what you think the world is like?" and his answer was "I am showing what my view of the world is". It was the same thing with Hitchcock when an interviewer asked, "Why don't you ever do comedies?" and he replied, "All my films are comedies". This shows that filmmakers are showing their view and perception of the world. I've noticed that a lot of comments on this movie and their final thoughts and decision seemed to be based on solely one aspect of the film, the abusive behavior of Fletcher's character. Basing a movie solely on one aspect dilutes the appreciation for art.