Exagerat, injuraturile alea parca au fost descarcate cu lopata pentru pustii de 12 ani care tocmai au auzit cuvantul cu "f" si li se pare
cool sa-l foloseasca. Mi-a dat impresia de superficial, rugos, inutil. Am ramas cu o stare de lehamite dupa ce l-am vazut. Ii mai spala putin rusinea, uneori cu sange
, Miles Teller si J.K. Simmons.
Avea potential, dar s-a ales calea usoara. Se pare ca mai sunt cativa, foaaarte putini, ce-i drept, carora le-a lasat un gust amar.
This tortuous film has a one-note plot: Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons, "Labor Day"), a music teacher at an elite east coast conservatory where competition is in the DNA, discovers Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller, "The Spectacular Now"), a jazz drumming student with feverish ambitions to be recognized for his greatness. Driven by a similar passion to receive accolades for his superior judgement in recognizing young talent, Fletcher invites Andrew into his band.
There, the dual obsession to excel progresses into a blind brutality in the teacher's attacks on his student, madly thinking this is the way to lead the boy to his utmost potential. But, the instructor has lost it! His demands rise to merciless and nasty even as his screaming level goes into meter overload. Enhancement of talent is lost in the vapors of all the tongue lashing.
What we're witnessing here is a teaching method from hell -- 106 minutes about a drill sergeant who loses self control over himself and, consequently, over his troops until he goes off the deep end.
This teacher isn't instructing; he's heading his prize student to the loony bin. And if there ever was a music teacher upon whom writer-director Damien Chazelle based this character, I would hope he's no longer setting foot in a classroom.
The opportunity lost is Simmons'. One of the most active supporting and commercials actors in the industry for more than twenty years, this was a rare shot at a leading role in a feature film. But the writing of a vacuous character who is called upon to screech his way through a plot is, I would expect, too barren and exaggerated to move him into leading roles because of it.
Teller, as the forlorn victim of such radical treatment in the name of musical training, carries his load and can be commended for his energy, actual drumming, and some sympathy.
At least this is my take on this film. I'm completely at a loss over why it's been so well received by the community of critics. I've been in the minority before but can't remember a time when my reaction to a film was so divergent. Makes me wonder if I missed something.
Jules Brenner