Who knew that a movie about a Jazz teacher and his student would turn out to be my favorite movie of 2014 and THE most epic battle between two people in any movie of 2014 (including all the big summer blockbusters & superhero movies).
This movie worked for me on every level. I love the depth here. I love the intensity. There are so many edge-of-your-seat, tense moments in this film. I love the battle of wills. I love that the ending is ambiguous and leaves it up to us to decide what really happened, how the characters changed (or did they?), and does Andrew retain his humanity?
JK Simmons absolutely deserves the Oscar I am betting he earns in a few weeks at the Academy Awards for this. For me, this was the movie of the year.