Beautiful Movie

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2015)

I watched this film on the recommendation of a friend who saw it on early access and I'm glad to say I took his advice. The storyline is very simple; a young drummer has aspirations of greatness, that's basically it. yet it is the stellar performance of the composer J K Simmons that really carries this film on his shoulders. He plays a man determined to produce the very best musicians, at any cost. For him, saying "good job" is a sin, as pure criticism is the means to success. For people who aren't that musically talented, myself included, I didn't really get much of the in-film criticism about off-beats and tempo etc.. which apparently separate the good from the great, but this lack of knowledge doesn't negatively impact the film and they manage to work around it. The final scene is one which I must pay homage to, and spoiler alert here if you haven't already it: Miles playing the drums solo whilst Fletcher stares on in anger, which morphs into fascination, then amazement, is simply amazing. The movie ends so abruptly after this change that it left me simply flabbergasted; there was no "happily ever after" displayed on screen" you merely saw a young man achieve his dream, whilst his muse looks on in awe, and the camera cuts to black, leaving you in the audience to simply marvel upon this moment. All being said, one of the best endings to a movie I've seen, and well worth a watch.