Whiplash (2014)

Chasing greatness requires sacrifice, but does it require torturous conditions? Damien Chazelle wrote and directed a film that’s so hard to watch sometimes, but you can’t look away. J.K. Simmons plays the demented instructor of protege drummer Andrew, played by Miles Teller. What is the movie trying to say? Is it a maddening endorsement of maniacal leadership? Or is it a warning?