Whiplash

Year: 2014
Running time: 107 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Damien Chazelle
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang

Fletcher, looking closely for the smallest mistake to punish.

There is a school of thought that says to be a genius at anything requires mere practice. 10,000 hours of relentless, focused practice. Not having spent that long doing anything, and not being a genius, I'm not really in any position to comment, but I would have thought that a natural aptitude for whatever it is you're practising is probably required as well. Whiplash is a story of Andrew (Miles Teller), a young jazz drummer at the Schaffer Conservatory of Music, a music school in New York for the very best up-and-comers. Andrew has both a natural aptitude for drumming and the determined will to work at it until he's one of the greats.

Andrew gets the attention of Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), who picks him for the school's jazz band. Fletcher is a monster, relentless in his pressure to push his students to greatness, belittling then for even the smallest mistakes - he is genuinely outraged when the music isn't completely flawless. Simmons skirts the edges of caricature, but never crosses over, becoming instead a towering presence, terrifyingly single-minded in his attempts to mould greatness.

Andrew is determined enough to respond to Fletcher's goading and pushes himself harder and harder. Neither of these two characters are particularly likable - Andrew sees everything other than practise as an unwelcome distraction, from girlfriend Nicole (Melissa Benoist) to dinner guests, whom he sees as mediocre nobodies to regard with only contempt. It's when these two are together, Andrew behind the drum kit, Fletcher ready to vent his spleen at any imperfection, that Whiplash is truly terrific. The tension between them, winding higher and higher, makes for glorious viewing.

Just the end of another day of practice.

The two of them clash against yet feed off each other, Andrew slowly making his way to his goal of being world class, but it doesn't (can't) last. Desperately rushing to get to a performance in a hire car, Andrew gets into an accident. Dazed and bleeding, he insists on playing. When he can't, the tension finally boils over, leading Andrew to attack Fletcher, causing the end of his studies.

After the air has cleared, following Fletcher losing his job due to his abusive teaching methods, the two appear to be on slightly better terms, but it just sets the scene for the blistering finale. Fletcher, guessing correctly the Andrew had testified against him, sets him up to destroy any hope of a career, but it is here you finally begin to route for Andrew. Refusing to let his tormentor/mentor get the better of him, the performance at the climax focuses on just the two of them, ignoring almost everything else, including a packed concert hall, becoming as intimate as a sex scene. Teller is utterly convincing in his performance, appearing to play the drums as well as anyone in the world, and Simmons, conducting with a rapturous intensity, conveys everything with his eyes - beaten in this game of one-upmanship, he is nevertheless delighted by the extraordinary talent his excessive methods have produced.

The film doesn't appear to judge Fletcher's methods; it leaves it for you to decide if it was worth it, but there is no doubt in the minds of both Andrew and Fletcher - it was worth every last drop of blood.

Just mesmerising to watch.

Score: 9/10

Praise is overflowing for Whiplash, as shown in these reviews from Robbie at the Telegraph and Geoffrey at the Independent.