Really hard to watch

Rating: 8/10 (20 September 2018)

This film was really tough to watch. Not in a bad way at all, just in a really intense way. It was an incredibly tense film, the blood motif being a huge part of it. I loved how they focused on blood and perspiration on Andrew's hands, sticks, and drums. It just really helped me realize the pain Andrew was feeling in these scenes. I thought J.K Simmons did an excellent job with the role as well, he was very intimidating. Awkwardness and fear are present in a lot of the scenes in this film. The opening scene, not quite my tempo, Andrew getting replaced by that red haired kid, the ending scene when Fletcher tries to destroy Andrew's musical career. It was all executed so perfectly. I also really enjoyed the lighting. It had a really dark, warm feeling to it. I think this made us feel like the college is a sort of home to these kids, that's just the feeling I got from the warm colors.
I don't know how I feel about Fletcher's character yet. He's undoubtedly a total dick, but it's also pretty easy to argue that he is doing the best thing anyone could do for the kids in the college. They are all there because they want to become incredible musicians, that's why they attended the most prestigious music college in the country, so pushing them to the edge of their potential could really be the best thing Fletcher could do for them, period.
My major takeaway from the film is to not give up on your dreams. Andrew had essentially given up on his dream of becoming "one of the greats" after he assaulted Fletcher on stage, but decided to stick with it and put on an absolutely incredible performance that even impressed Fletcher.
On top of all of this, the soundtrack was pretty damn good. I'm actually listening to Caravan right now as I'm writing this review. There was also a huge focus on the actual music in the movie, it wasn't just used as a plot device. When music was playing, we got to see Andrew either watch or play it, for quite a long time. I really liked that.
Anyway, this is a great movie. It was really tough to watch. I felt horrible for Andrew at many points during this film, and J.K Simmons made his character so incredibly intimidating that I felt uncomfortable any time he was talking to Andrew.