I had seen him in other movies before, but I’d never paid that much attention to his performance. In “Whiplash”, however, he steals the spotlight and is deservedly the favorite in the supporting actor category.

He plays Fletcher, the most respected (and feared) professor at a prestigious music academic who makes his students’ lives a living hell. The movie focuses on the 19-year-old Andrew Neimann (Milles Teller) who wants to be a jazz drummer and is the new member of the class taught by Fletcher. The relationship between them keeps getting more intense as Andrew tries harder to achieve greatness and the professor does whatever he can to stop the student. And by “whatever he can” I mean offending (him and his family), slapping, yelling and even making the student’s hands bleed as he keeps telling him to play the same song over and over again for hours.

I was extremely tense during the entire movie mainly because of J.K. Simmons’ performance. I fell for all his mind games, I was afraid when he screamed and I was angry with him by the end of the movie. By the same token, I felt really sorry for the student and was impressed at how long a person can go putting up with a situation like that just to follow his dream. Definitely worth watching!