Whiplash
Go! Jazz up your life.
Ain't no rhythm without blues.
Performing arts movies have a chequered history. For every Black Swan, Fame and Amadeus there is a Step Up 2: The Streets, a Take the Lead or even a Honey. Oh dear. So it is with some trepidation that we receive (drumroll please)... Whiplash; but its release during #nomming season gives us good reason to be hopeful. Plus it's directed and written by hotshot newcomer, the thirty-year old, cool surnamed Damien Shazelle. Shazam!
Set in the (imaginary) Shaffer Conservatory in New York (of course), new hotshot actor and also cool-named Miles Teller (The Divergent Series) plays freshman drum student Andrew Neyman who wants to beat taught skins and tap copper plates as brilliantly as his idols of jazz drumming. Rather than playing beer pong and smoking doobies like regular fresher d-bags, Neyman is one focused mother-drummer and he snares (ahem) a place under the tutelage of the mean but talented teacher, Terrence Fletcher; played by J.K. Simmons (Burn After Reading). Fletcher takes a brutal approach to guiding his students, stripping their characters to shreds with insults and physical torment to discover whether the next genius jazz musician lies underneath. The question is... Can Neyman hack it, beat his way out of Fletcher's chrysalis of physical and emotional cruelty, and become a megastar? And does the potential excellence of the end justify the destructive means?
I won't beat about the bush - this is one of the best films of the past year; and perhaps one of the best ever about performers and their sacrifices made in their gruelling quest for excellence. Both teacher and student are hugely engaging and well-crafted characters, and the actors do them more than justice; particularly in the performance of Simmons, who struts around the screen like a shaven bulldog in a tight t-shirt, never flinching in delivering epic and manipulative abuse of his students - so much so that you will probably begin to awkwardly revel in his menace. As for Teller, he allegedly plays 90% of the quite spectacular drumming that we see on screen, which is pretty remarkable considering the immense amount of skill it requires. Taking the drumming alone, the intensity with which he performs is a joy to watch - at times he looks like he is giving birth to the beats rather than merely playing them.
In many ways, Teller and Simmons performances both reflect what this film is about - greatness and how to achieve it. Putting in hours and hours of practice until you bleed, sweat, cry and reach some kind of genius. Both actors have gone beyond themselves for their roles and what they have given us in this film embodies that message. It really is something electrifying.
So go. You'll be inspired.
In many ways, Teller and Simmons performances both reflect what this film is about - greatness and how to achieve it. Putting in hours and hours of practice until you bleed, sweat, cry and reach some kind of genius. Both actors have gone beyond themselves for their roles and what they have given us in this film embodies that message. It really is something electrifying.
So go. You'll be inspired.
#whiplash #cinema #moviereview #filmreview #movies #films #godontgo