It would be an insult to call Chazelle a "promising" filmmaker, as this movie doesn't indicate mere potential - it is evidence of authentic, sometimes blazing talent.
It's a riveting, thrilling film that gets away with an ending that's perhaps just a little too keen to cleanly resolve the jagged drama. But if you ever thought Glee or Fame would be better rendered as a one-on-one psycho-thriller, here's your film.
Director Damien Chazelle, who based the story on his own experience as a student jazz drummer in the thrall of an Alpha task-master, has created a remarkably economical and claustrophobic piece of storytelling.
This is not a music movie-the numbers are dense and joyless-it's a sports movie, and a very assured one for a guy clearly reaching for the stars himself.
