Whiplash

2014, US, directed by Damien Chazelle

Impressive on every level: performances, construction, visuals, and with a final payoff that's intense and emotionally fraught (the almost unspoken depiction of a kind of masochistic self-abnegation, both in pursuit of success and in terms of the willingness to submit to the Svengali-type, is quite exceptional). Chazelle also orchestrates an enjoyably percussive editing style, with brisk conveying of information.