Josh:
This is my fourth time seeing this film, and while the first time was after seeing Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (its slick precision startled me after Chazelle’s gentle, loose-limbed debut), this time it was after seeing Babylon, and maybe that partly explains my reassessment, as I still appreciate the skill behind the movie’s breakneck brutality, but now I kind of have to consider what its undeniable effectiveness is in service of, because in the end, it’s the needlessly sadistic Terence Fletcher grinning triumphantly, while Andrew’s loving, concerned dad is almost completely shut off from the stage, staring in near terror at his son, who has already achieved a level of genius he finds incomprehensible. ⏰⏰⏰⏰
Steph:
I love the idea of teachers pushing students beyond what’s expected of them, and this film takes that theory a little too far with Fletcher, the sadistic music instructor, and Andrew, the fledgling musician, both coming to terms with their own capabilities and limitations, and it’s a complex and compelling film about art and pain and humiliation and passion, you know, jazz—and I love when Andrew’s father watches him play the drums from backstage, and this realization crosses his face like he’s learning something entirely new about his son in that moment, and isn’t that what we all want anyway—to be fucking seen?! ⏰⏰⏰⏰
The Bare Minimum 