Whiplash is the story of Andrew Neiman, a young drummer in a prestigious conservatory of music. He attracts the notice of the most revered teacher in the school, Terence Fletcher, and is invited to join the advanced jazz performance group. But Fletcher is also the most feared teacher at the school: a task-driving, abusive tyrant with absolutely no tolerance for anything less than perfection. A battle of wills ensues, as Andrew fights to prove how badly he "wants it," and Fletcher fights to wear him raw, both physically and emotionally.
There have been some quality action films released in the last year. There have also been some above average suspense films. With Whiplash, writer-director Damien Chazelle has created a visceral, physical movie more tense than all of them. It puts a knot in your stomach just minutes in, and then keeps ratcheting up the anxiety over the next hour and a half. In the small theater where I watched it, there was just me, three friends, and maybe half a dozen other people. We were under no obligation to respond to the movie as a "crowd." Yet everyone was gasping audibly, in unison, with each new torment visited upon the film's protagonist. I left the movie with a bit of a stomach ache. "Whiplash" is a perfectly chosen title, because the movie really does feel like the roller coaster that too many films are unthinkingly compared to -- it inflicts a palpable sense of nausea.
No film has so powerfully presented the drive for success among the most exacting people in a creative field. You feel how badly Andrew craves success, to the point where he compromises his social life, throws away everything else he has of lesser importance, and becomes a bit of a prize asshole himself. He's hardly a role model, but you want him to come out on top because you understand how desperately he wants it. You understand how literally nothing else in his life means anything to him.
All that raw emotion comes through in the excellent performance by young actor Miles Teller. And that's not even taking into account the insane technical accomplishment that was playing this role. Everyone associated with the film has said that Teller did 99% of his own drumming on screen. Of course, he got plenty of help from the film's editor, who assembled days of filming into single performances. Still, if Teller had only done half of his own playing in the movie, it would have been astounding. As it is, it's robbery that he wasn't ever seriously thought to be in the hunt for a Best Actor nomination. (At least he's young; he'll get another chance if he continues to work at this level.)
But then, part of why Oscar voters may have overlooked Miles Teller is that they were gobsmacked by J.K. Simmons. As tyrannical maestro Fletcher, he's one of the most terrifying villains ever put on film. You cringe when he rages. You tense even more when he softens, because you fear he's just baiting a trap of emotional manipulation. Every single scene he's in, the audience is on edge. And the capper of it all is that Simmons understands "Villain 101" -- Fletcher doesn't see himself as a villain. Indeed, one of the movie's most powerful scenes reveals exactly what makes this monster tick. It may not make him sympathetic, as horrible as he is, but it does make him recognizable as a plausible human being. His like certainly does exist in the world somewhere. (Shiver.) J.K. Simmons quite deservedly won a Golden Globe for this role, and if there's any justice, he'll come away with the Oscar too.
You get so wound up watching the movie that you really can't actually enjoy the music. But that's a shame, as we're talking about one of the most joyful types of music there is, jazz. Jazz is the vital backdrop of the film, and the movie includes a number of amazing songs -- some famous standards (most critically, "Caravan"), but mostly a number of electric new originals. I can surely see myself picking up the movie's soundtrack album to more purely enjoy these songs... assuming that the film hasn't built up so powerful an association with them that even listening to them in isolation becomes tense too.
I really was impressed by Boyhood this past year, and I can hardly begrudge it the Best Picture Oscar it will very likely win. But now I've seen Whiplash, which is said to be squarely in the "it's an honor just to be nominated" camp. And now I'm sad that the true Best Picture of 2014 isn't going to be recognized as such. Whiplash is an unqualified A, and takes the top slot on Top 10 List from last year.
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