Oh good ‘whiplash’? - that’s either going to be about kinky sex or that bloke in Iron Man 2. Jazz drumming you say? Good stuff!
The ‘whiplash’ of the title is in fact a jazz piece that requires a lot of fast drumming and one that won’t be on my Spotify play list any time soon. The film is however a triumph and even if you have a strong aversion to jazz you’ll still find a lot to like here.
Miles Teller, of War Dogs fame plays Andrew, a student at a prestigious New York music school. He lives alone with his Dad and goes to see films with him. He has no friends, possibly because he plays jazz drums, but does manage to ask out the concession stand girl at the movies.
He aspires to get in the school band run by J. Jonah Jamieson himself, J.K. Simmons but the teacher is a hard taskmaster. He sets Andrew challenges and plays him off his fellow drummers in the hope of getting the best out of him. From the outside he appears to be a bully but he is only trying to give the world the next jazz great by making his protégée really earn the accolades he craves.
There are a lot of drumming solos and training montages as Andrew's hands bleed at the workload. Things come to a head when Andrew gets some whiplash of his own in a car accident on the way to a contest where he manages to get on stage despite bleeding all over. He attacks his teacher when stood down and is expelled from school.
News comes out of another student who killed himself under the pressures placed on him by his teacher and Andrew is pressured into testifying against his mentor. Will he do so? and are the sacrifices demanded worth the cost?
This is a cracking study of obsession and, even if you hate jazz, you can’t help but be impressed with the passion and dedication on show. The music is mostly a noise to me but Simmons is excellent as the maniac teacher throwing furniture and finding fault in every offering. Teller looks a lot older than his character’s 19 years (he was 25 at the time) and he maybe doesn’t seem as vulnerable as a result. His romantic subplot goes nowhere, apart from showing what a solitary life it is that he is aspiring to.
The finale is a bit drawn out and self indulgent and to be honest if I’d bought a ticket for the concert I’d have been in the bar long before the drawn out drum solo got halfway. Still they go to jazz concerts and get what they deserve.
Simmons rightly won the Oscar for his performance, but strangely for Best Supporting actor - that must have been politics as this was basically a two-hander throughout. I liked the direction and editing that kept my interest, even when we were treated to another few bars of ‘whiplash’ for the twentieth time.
It may annoy your neighbours but this is an enjoyable and well made film with two excellent performances and a fine study on going that extra mile for perfection.
Best Bit : Losing the CDW ‘W’ Rating 18/23
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