Whiplash was the second movie of a double header I saw today. The first was stellar, so Whiplash was going to have to be really special to compete. While very good, maybe even great, it didn’t move me like the first film did. Whiplash stars Miles Teller as Andrew, a young drummer recently admitted to one of the best music schools in the country. His goal is to become “one of the greats,” and when he gets the attention of Fletcher (played by J.K. Simmons), the director of the top jazz band in the school, he pushes himself to be just that. He quickly learns though that Fletcher is an ass. He accepts nothing but perfection, to the point that he verbally and even physically abuses his players for even the slightest missteps.
I’m a musician, and I’ve seen directors like Fletcher before (granted, not to the extreme shown in the film). They can’t differentiate their personal success from the success of their band, and every player in it is just there to show the world his ability as a leader. Fletcher manipulates everyone and uses violence as the only tool to entice perfection from his group.
Teller and Simmons are really great, though the plot as a whole is a little stale by the end. There are parts of the film that are meant to be very serious, though I found some almost comical, but perhaps viewers with a non-musical background may not even pick up on issues and events that seem a bit out of place. I did appreciate that great lengths were taken to make some of the musical aspects, central to the film, very real (others not so much, but good for the most part). The movie is getting tremendous reviews (an unheard-of 97% right now on Rotten Tomatoes), and it is well worth a viewing.
Jons Movie Takes 