Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is a 19-yearold jazz drummer who attends “the best music school in the country”, practices hard and competes all the time to become the next jazz legend. 
His teacher at Shaffer Conservatory, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), conducts his class in military fashion and engages them with intimidation and physical abuse at times. He has no remorse for the students who cry from his barrage of insults, and he does not care for more than their participation in the pieces he arranges. He is manipulative at all times and plays mind games on his new percussionist, Andrew.
The jazz music played is coordinated like wonder from a child’s mind, the way the edits cut from trumpets to keyboard, and the viewer is exposed to music that only jazz aficionados can contemplate, but again, the viewer can learn and appreciate this art in film. Neiman is a student, like the millions out there, dreaming to be somebody. He is a loner with only his single father (Paul Reiser) to call his friend.
The girl he admires from afar named Nicole (Melissa Benoist) sees Andrew as opinionated person with great ambition. As she gets to know him, she witnesses his ambition take full control and his tact whither away. It is all undone in the life of Andrew because his professor is making it hard for him. 
J.K. Simmons character is a real piece of work, possibly mental, and the class he teaches fears him like the devil he is. Andrew wants to prove this man wrong, and he wants to be the best till his hands bleed on the drums.
Damien Chazelle’s screenplay is an adaptation of the short film “Whiplash,” and this is also his second directorial work, and you can’t help but feel his character’s passion through dialogue, performance, and hatred for one another. Fletcher hates Andrew for not being the best jazz drummer, and he’s been searching so long to inspire one of his students to become as great as Buddy Rich, or any one musician who inspired his students to get this far.
The conclusion of the film is no cliché, its every bit about the music it showcases and it isn’t melodramatic. A viewer will look at the outcome and say the student and teacher destroyed each other, and yet they had the music they loved. The only camaraderie they share is in the similar goal they have. These two actors, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, personify this impalpable kinship with magnificent acting.
Simmons is the devil that tempts Teller to quit, through the tribulations, and it is the student who sees passed the teacher and learns to focus on the audience, even though he needs the maestro’s approval. I loved this film from every beat to all the emotional complexities and bitterness shared, and it was the best film I saw this year.