The pathway to perfection is not an easy road to travel.

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2015)

There are many reasons to dislike this movie. It shows a teenager being psychologically and physically abused. It shows art being portrayed as something painful. It shows someone abusing his authority. It shows the collapse of a romantic relationship, causing deeply hurt feelings. The story in general comes off as being contrived. Yet, this movie is great. It is highly entertaining, the reason being its theme: what is an artist supposed to do to satisfy his quest for perfection? In this case, the metaphor for perfection is Buddy Rich, who was a famous American jazz drummer. In this movie, Rich's work is used as a standard for artistic perfection, in this case, artistic expression through the playing of percussion instruments. The structure of the plot is simple: a music teacher, Fletcher, wants to bring out the brilliance of his student, Andrew. He believes that the best way to accomplish this through humiliation which will test the level of the student's commitment to achieving greatness and perfection. The student becomes the tool through which the teacher can vicariously achieve perfection. For this story is about the teacher. He is the principal character, the one around whom the action takes place. The teacher is a metaphor for all the artists in the world who are striving for something that they themselves cannot achieve, and so seek it out in others. To bring it out is the challenge, and that generates conflict, as the teacher must first break down the student's resistance, which is a painful and risky process. Painful because it involves elements of abuse; risky because he may lose the student. The acting is superb. J. K. Simmons's gives a terrifically powerful performance as the teacher, Fletcher, and Miles Teller gives a tremendous performance as the student, Andrew. The story moves at a brisk pace and achieves moments of extreme intensity that alone make the movie worth watching. True, the movie includes brief but graphic scenes of physical violence perpetrated against a teenager, but this takes place within the context of an extremely emotional and volatile relationship which drives the story, and without which the story may lose some of it strength.