Review of Whiplash (2014) by Adlai N — 31 May 2015

No one ever said achieving greatness beyond what everyone expects and being immortalized for all time as a bonafide legend would be easy. It has never been an easy path and it is usually riddled with pain, suffering, anguish and personal loss along with potentially losing the love of your profession in the process. The mentor/student relationship has been done before but it reaches an all new level of barbarity and shocking intensity with Whiplash. It throws everything about that tired genre out the window, exploding it beyond recognition while swearing gross obscenities and slurs at it. To say it will leave you breathless is a huge understatement, but it also might make you think about your own potential and how one would reach their own pillar of greatness. That is hopefully without the specific teachings of Terence Fletcher hurling objects and cruel insults at them.

Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is a very gifted, young jazz drummer who wants to be seen and respected as one of the greats, willing to do anything to get there. He is enrolled at the Shaffer Conservatory in New York City, the best music school in the country. Andrew trains endlessly to get noticed by Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a well-known conductor at Shaffer who is looking for a new drummer alternate. Andrew seemingly gets in the good graces of Fletcher and is thought to be liked by him. But that quickly fades away as its revealed that Fletcher is a cruel, sadistic, manipulative teacher who stops at nothing to bring out the best in his students. While he is brilliant and has much standing when it comes to music, he becomes a bitter enemy to Andrew as they butt heads and Andrew lays his claim to be the prominent drummer at Shaffer no matter what Fletcher thinks. Andre gets pushed to the brink of his own sanity and never rests until he gains the respect of Fletcher and achieves the position as one of the greats.

For all the buzz Simmons has received for his performance, it was a long time coming to finally see him on screen. The final product was even better that I ever anticipated and it's truly one of the best performances of the entire year. Simmons basically owns the entire movie and never lets up. He is a literal force of nature, a swirling typhoon of rage; anger and passion that will envelop anyone who dares to challenge him or threatens anyone who would sabotage his band. Never have I seen an actor so magnetic and fervent in the way that Simmons does it. This was basically made for him and I could never envision anyone playing this role or even coming close to his level of intensity.

He has made a career as a brilliant character actor for decades, but never being the star. He is known for being a scene stealer, whether it's a brutal neo Nazi Vernon Schillinger in Oz or the boisterous, loud mouth publisher of the Daily Bugle J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man trilogy. With his charisma, biting sense of humor and powerful emotive abilities, he rightfully steals many of the scenes in Whiplash. Simmons always excels in any role he is put in and lays claim that he has been unnoticed by many of the populace for too long. With this one role, he quickly rises from being that guy who was in that thing to a sure fire Oscar contender.

With so many memorable films this year, Terence Fletcher stands out as something bigger and eventually will become more iconic. His look, style and general way of doing things is menacing that is reminiscent of a super villain. Clad in black from head to toe with a chrome dome and an expression on his face that could shatter glass, he has a look that doesn't want to be messed with. But the way that he is presented shows that he isn't outright trying to be an asshole just for the sake of being one and has many layers beneath him that show a method to his twisted madness. He is a very hateful guy who breeds contempt but at the same time, you can't help but somewhat understand him and realize that a teacher who wants to bring out the best has a point.

Even if it's a rather physically and mentally damaging way of going around it that no normal teacher would use. He is a very complex character that begs to be broken down where you are curious to his upbringing that would cause him to be such a brutal teacher of music. But the best characters don't need a reason or a backstory to reveal why they do certain things which makes him all the more engaging and magnetic. You are immediately drawn to him because there is so much you don't know about him but to reveal anymore would damage the mammoth mystique that was previously built up. At times he is like a Bond villain who controls all that he sees and hears and has his students used as mere pawns in his manipulative game. Fletcher uses whatever you give him to his advantage and breaks you down mentally with that information.

The way he masterminds his devious plans is downright brilliant where you can't help but marvel at how it went about. I cannot recall a more sick and twisted scholastic professional since Paul Gleason's Richard Vernon from The Breakfast Club. Teller continues to show that he is a great dramatic actor with another stand out role. He brings the needed vulnerability to make Andrew human and relatable but not necessarily someone we root for initially. Andrew screws up a lot which gains a few enemies at Shaffer and the acidic scorn of Fletcher which makes his plight against him all the more complex. If Andrew would have done a few things differently, it may have been an entirely different movie but then again maybe not. Teller goes face to face and toe to toe with Simmons every step of the way to show that he belongs in the band where they bring out the best in each other.

Their chemistry together is red hot and bristles with tension every time they are on screen together. You wait for something ugly to happen and a potential bomb to blow up, and it doesn't disappoint as the resulting blast is bigger than one expects. It's a great showing of a talented young upstart and a well-respected veteran going off of each other and literally off of each other as they come to some serious blows. It was as much as Simmons making his presence known in a star making performance after so many years as it was Teller staking claim as one of the best young actors today and one to look out for in the future. Teller has already shown his immense talent playing tortured characters in The Spectacular Now and the under seen and underrated Rabbit Hole.

But he steps up in every way with Whiplash showing immense character development with an intense transformation. You can see him breaking down mentally as well as physically as the movie goes on where Teller shows his impeccable acting and emotive skills by hardly saying anything and lets his body do the talking. The pain and anguish he goes through is even more powerful by the tired and exasperated look on his face that easily speaks volumes. He eventually becomes just as brutally honest as Fletcher to his family, girlfriend Nicole (Melissa Benoist) and fellow students, berating them for not understanding the hard work that comes when being a jazz drummer at an elite school. The way that Teller tells people off doesn't come off as condescending but truthful in many ways and has a natural honesty that comes off the screen. He slowly comes into his own not only as a musician but as a man who quickly takes charge when he needs too and doesn't take a no for an answer. Seeing two freight trains in Simmons and Teller go 200 mph at each other makes for excellent viewing and one of the best 1-2 punches of the entire year.

Damien Chazelle really came out of nowhere with his sophomore feature and immediately places him on the list for the most promising directors and screen writers. He has received much acclaim from his first film, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench which I have yet to find anywhere on any streaming site. Its one of the best sophomore films in a long while and one that quickly ignited the cinematic landscape. It's a great mix of humorous verbal barbs, musical performances, napalm like rage with a powerful message of following ones dreams. Chazelle crafts an all too real world of a cut throat music school where only the best of the best need apply and only the strong survive.

It's not a portrayal of all elite schools but it could for many professions where the slightest, most insignificant thing that you would never notice would set off the wrong person who holds your future in the palm of their hand. Since it never really lets up, the pacing is perfectly executed where the tension and the situations are ramped up every time. Andrew goes through more pain and Fletcher gets more vindictive as the movie goes on and you're left hanging on the edge of your seat. Chazelle has a very unrelenting style that doesn't let up and grabs you by the collar in so many ways. If you're not being attacked by Fletcher with a string of gross insults, you're engrossed by the gorgeous music and the amazing accompaniment in the background.

The music played was on point, sounding spectacular every time even if someone was off key or not in Fletchers time. Everything went so well with one another and much like a band masterminded by Fletcher, it never felt like it was incomplete, rushing or dragging. There were some amazing sequences that were increasingly intense. One scene half way in particular had me yelling obscenities, with my arms thrown up in the air and my mouth aghast to what I had just seen. It's completely visceral and shocking that goes really well with the all-around chaos of the film. The tryouts were brutal as well as Andrews very first day in Fletchers class that will leave you awe struck.

Andrews practice sessions were like seeing a man literally torture himself, where he bleeds, sweats and generally puts his sanity on the line to impress Fletcher enough to place him in the band as lead drummer. Of course the editing is what makes Whiplash work so impeccably well and without it would not be as lauded as it is. The editing by Tom Cross was absolutely fantastic and mesmerizing. The abrupt and quick cuts made it flow so much easier. It was almost like watching a music video at times as the beat of the music timed with the editing to make a collage of imagery and sound. You see every bit of the band from every corner when they play and the quick cuts allows you to swiftly take it all in with one swoop. The cinematography by Sharone Meir was also excellent and showed the solitude that would follow Andrew.

For much of the film, he finds himself enclosed within his own prison of being the best and the camera shows that very well. It presented Fletcher as the ultimate head honcho like a god some of the time and it built up their confrontations beautifully. When Fletcher is berating Andrew and the camera gets up close, it feels like a heavy weight fight. I also loved the sound and how it was included. When the other players in the band prepare, you hear all the sheet music being flipped through, instruments being handled and calibrated to their own specific likings to make a gorgeous cornucopia of sound. The exciting and thrilling climax uses all of these elements to create one of the best sequences in a long while. As for the ending, it was brilliant in so many ways that perfectly extenuates all that was preceded before it. There was so much to go over and dive into that it made for excellent viewing.

The script was full of dark humor as well as some bitter hidden truths to being seen and respected as one of the greatest in ones respected field. There were some of the funniest and cruelest verbal takedowns that I've heard in a long while and the relationship that Fletcher had with his students reminded me of R. Lee Ermey's Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, where he also took no prisoners, spewing hilarious vitriol at his soldiers and also saw fit that his men were the best of the best.

While it would have been easy to paint Fletcher as an outright evil villain and to see him that way, that's not how he was presented. Throughout the film he shows some type of compassion for his students and shows that he cares to guide them to greatness. But at the same time doesn't apologize for his actions which are realistically how much of the world works now. It also doesn't paint Andrew as a completely sympathetic character as he knew somewhat what he was getting into and the mistakes that got Fletcher mad at him were his fault. The dichotomy shown has two characters presented one way but shown the opposite later on to create a complex study of both of them.

Fletcher makes an excellent point saying that "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job." People become complacent when they are told that what they are doing is only good enough and not terrible or amazing. There can be no improvement if one is simply told that it's good for now. While I don't necessarily agree with all his methods, every teacher should aspire to push their students beyond their limits and make them realize that every little thing counts. In an arena as immaculate as jazz band where everything must be perfect, it shouldn't be out of line to only accept greatness. The legends achieve that status by putting up with everything thrown at them when they think of quitting the most and the future looks as bleak as ever. Whether it includes slaps in the face, thrown chairs and homophobic slurs is anyone's guess.

You'd be hard-pressed to find another film like Whiplash and another character like Terence Fletcher. Whether you hate him or love him, he leaves an impact and will have you thinking if you have what it takes to put up with anything and everything to be great. Chazelle lays his own claim for greatness with his only second film, his first hardly seen but may garner some more attention now. Unapologetic, intense and bludgeoning, it's the ultimate portrayal of the mentor/student relationship but only way more sick and twisted. Whiplash isn't just the title of the film and one of the songs that Fletcher gets the band to play, but it's also the effect you have when you're done watching the film. It comes out of nowhere to crash right into you, shocking you into submission and leaving you breathless to where you hardly know what hit you and you don't even have any words to what just happened. It's hard to find another film from last year to have as stunning and meaningful an impact where you still think about it days later. Five thrown chairs out of five.