By SETH HYNES
Whiplash
Starring J.K. Simmons, Miles Teller, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist
Rated M
Harrowing beat
WHIPLASH is a harrowing drama about musical obsession and how intense personality can get away with almost anything.
Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is a jazz student who wants to become one of the all-time great drummers, and struggles to gain the approval of his tyrannical conductor Mr Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).
Teller throws everything he’s got into his role, but Simmons rightly steals the show (and won an Oscar) as Mr Fletcher, embodying with gusto a man of aggressive passion.
Fletcher may be one of cinema’s most perfectly realised anti-heroes: you hate him, yet find yourself strongly empathising with him in spite of yourself.
He is foul-mouthed, emotionally abusive and even violent, but works from an understandable position. He believes it is better to constantly push a prodigy to realise his potential, rather than praise him and risk him becoming complacent and not improving. It’s a horrible perspective, but it’s disturbingly logical.
Andrew’s consuming desire to succeed, as he pushes his family and girlfriend away and literally bleeds for his art, and the visible toll of Fletcher’s methods, make Whiplash incredibly tense. The suspense is bolstered by tight, precise editing and a nuanced, insightful screenplay (both of which also won Oscars this year).
Set in New York’s competitive music scene, Whiplash is a sterling character study and as riveting as any thriller.
