The story begins by introducing Andrew Neiman, a first-year student at an elite music conservatory, who wants to become one of the greatest jazz drummers of his entire generation. “Wants to become” is our first example of the infinitive form: after “want,” we use “to” plus the base verb, not the “-ing” form.

Andrew genuinely enjoys practising alone late at night, drilling the same difficult rhythms over and over until his technique is completely flawless. “Enjoys practising” is a gerund here: after “enjoy,” English uses the “-ing” form, not the infinitive, a pattern that trips up even confident learners.

One night, a demanding, intimidating conductor named Terence Fletcher notices Andrew practising in an empty room, and decides to recruit him into the conservatory’s top studio jazz band. “Decides to recruit” uses the infinitive again, since “decide” is one of a large group of verbs, like want, hope, and plan, that are always followed by “to” plus the base verb, never “-ing.”

Andrew eagerly agrees to join Fletcher’s band, not yet fully understanding just how brutal and demanding his new teacher’s methods actually are. “Agrees to join” follows exactly the same infinitive pattern as “decides to recruit,” reinforcing just how many common verbs of intention behave this same way.

Determined to earn Fletcher’s approval, Andrew starts practising obsessively, often drumming for so many hours that his hands bleed onto the drum kit beneath him. “Starts practising” can also take the infinitive, “starts to practise,” with almost no change in meaning, one of a small handful of verbs flexible enough to work naturally with either form.

Andrew’s obsession with drumming begins pulling him away from everything else in his life, including Nicole, a fellow student he had just begun dating. He eventually stops seeing her entirely, telling her bluntly that he needs to focus completely on his music instead. “Stops seeing her” is a gerund once more, and it’s worth noticing how different this meaning is from “stops to see her”: stopping an activity uses the gerund, while stopping in order to do something else briefly uses the infinitive, two structures that look almost identical but mean something genuinely different.

Despite the damage to his personal life, Andrew keeps trying to prove himself worthy of Fletcher’s respect, refusing to accept anything less than technical perfection from himself in every single rehearsal. “Keeps trying to prove” stacks a gerund and an infinitive together in the very same sentence, “keeps trying” (gerund) plus “to prove” (infinitive), showing how naturally the two patterns can combine once you know the rules behind each one.

As the pressure mounts, Andrew becomes increasingly afraid of failing in front of Fletcher, terrified that a single mistake could end his entire future in music before it’s even properly begun. “Afraid of failing” uses a gerund again, since prepositions like “of” are always followed by the “-ing” form in English, never the infinitive.

Some time later, once life has settled into a very different shape for both of them, their paths cross again when Fletcher unexpectedly invites Andrew to perform with a new band at a major concert, and Andrew, after everything that has passed between them, agrees to take the stage one more time. “Invites Andrew to perform” and “agrees to take the stage” both use the infinitive, showing how naturally this structure continues appearing right through to the film’s tense final act — which I won’t spoil here.

What unfolds on that stage becomes the single most talked-about sequence in the entire film — tense, unpredictable, and genuinely nerve-shredding to watch from the very first beat to the last — and whether Andrew chooses to keep playing, walk away, or do something else entirely, I’ll let you discover for yourself. “Chooses to keep playing” combines an infinitive with a gerund, “chooses to” plus “keep playing,” showing how naturally the two patterns combine once you know the rules behind each one.

Critically, the response was overwhelmingly strong, with the film holding one of the highest scores of any drama released that year, and widespread praise directed at both lead performances. The film went on to win three Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons, and was also nominated for Best Picture, a remarkable achievement for a film made on a tiny three-million-dollar budget.