A Very Interesting Perspective on a Typical Master/Apprentice Story

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2015)

OVERVIEW Instead of attempting to sit through a three-hour coming-of-age borefest I decided to watch this interesting movie written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It's one of those movies that I would typically have no interest in seeing, specifically with the central premise of the flick being jazz. However, I love and appreciate all types of music, and there was some extremely positive reviews surrounding it so I felt like I needed to see what the fuss was about. After sitting through it I can see why it is praised. This movie is completely captivating. It gives you a real sense of the passion invigorating the main character Andrew (Miles Teller) and the boundaries he is willing to push past in his venture for perfection. It plays off as a very dark interpretation of a typical 'master and apprentice' story. With the bold, and sometimes brutal, nature of Terence Fletcher (JK Simmons) polars the suppressed, self-conscious drummer with an ambition.
I think the main drive for the narrative in my opinion is the sympathy you feel towards Andrew. He is a lonely student with no social life and feels under appreciated by his family who don't understand his talent and career path. He is desperate to feel some sort of recognition and when the opportunity is given to him, he doesn't hold back. This ambition in turn has an effect on his ego, and his new found relationship with a love interest. The way the movie was shot really adds to the tension and frustration in scenes. The extreme close ups and fast paced cuts from camera to camera when he's trying to reach Fletcher's standard gives it such an exhilarating feel. You route for Andrew and feel his aggressive and confined love for the art and seeking his teacher's approval.
PERFORMANCES The film practically has two performances to judge on, and both actors completely excel. Miles Teller as the suppressed but talented Andrew gives a fantastic performance. He adds such a sense of realism to the character you completely relate to his social anxiety and frustration in trying to find self worth.
However, JK Simmons stands out by a few steps. The confident and dominant nature of Fletcher really shines through in his scenes, with the funny yet harsh jokes made at student's expense giving your hatred towards him, but the method behind the madness making sense in the end. They both work as a fantastic parallel in scenes.
NOTEWORTHY MOMENTS I really feel that the most intriguing moments are involving the working relationship between Andrew and Fletcher. The classroom scenes are so tension driven it really adds a sense of anxiety towards the character. The physical and moral dilemmas faced by Andrew when trying to impress Simmons, with Fletcher constantly pushing him harder to bring out the greatness in his playing. It's fantastically done. Each classroom scene builds the tension between the two characters until Andrew comes to a boiling point and lashes out at Fletcher.
This in turn leads me to the ending. After Andrew is kicked out of Shaffer for his outburst the movie takes a very interesting turn. He testifies against Fletcher anonymously and packs up his drums for good. When he stumbles across Fletcher performing in a Jazz club, he sits down with him and they talk. I love this scene, it establishes all of Fletcher's motivations in teaching and why he acted the way he did to his students. He wanted to push people to achieve greatness, and he is at piece with trying to make the next big musician for the dying jazz scene. It summarises the hopes he had for Andrew, and that his unorthodox methods were executed with incentive. The false promise that it gives to Andrew when he is offered a place in his Carnegie Hall performance only to seek revenge by ruining his chances of a career, really adds a sinister and cruel premise to the finale.
The final scene when Andrew walks back out on stage after being humiliated really emphasises the difference in execution to straight forward story telling. Taking Andrew's journey through the movie into consideration; the protagonist enters a world filled with hopes and dreams, it doesn't turn out as planned, after his struggle to achieve his goal he is at his lowest point, only to face the obstacle and overcome it. This is a very simple, generic, but effective premise. But this movie tells it in such an interesting way that it doesn't feel patterned. Any story in the right hands will be done justice. The ending really emphasises Andrew's triumph over Fletcher, proving him right in his original thoughts on him and the musical connection that they slowly begin to share that was lacking throughout the film.
FINAL VERDICT This movie is a unique perspective on simple storytelling, that offers both a strange yet exhilarating premise, driven home by two great performances and well directed scenes to add to the excitement. It's a great movie, it feels like Damien Chazelle cared about his film and the message that he was trying to convey.
In order to achieve greatness, you have to work hard. But you have to be prepared to sacrifice some things you take for granted.