Right, so its time for a new review on this blog at last with NEW content (yep unreal I know!) and the subject of the post is the critically acclaimed musical drama, Whiplash starring JK Simmons as a ruthless band leader and an ambitious drum student played by Miles Teller.
This film caught my eye after watching the Youtuber, Rick Beato, who is a music tutor himself and he slated the film for what he saw as being cringing and inaccurate. And from the clips he showed of the trailer, I was intrigued by the film itself, so fancied giving it a go.
So, this film has received tremendous praise from film critics but has met with alot of criticism from professional musicians and in particularly music tutors, so it has created something of a divide since its release 2014.
So, with that said let's take a look at this film and see how it all stacks up.
And yep the usual warning is coming up...
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the story follows a young ambitious jazz drum student, Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller) who is studying at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory in New York City. One night at the school while Andrew rehearses, he catches the attention of Terence Fletcher (J.K Simmons) who is a renowned instructor at the conservatory and he asks Andrew if he will play as an alternate drummer in his studio band.
Andrew however soon finds out that Fletcher's methods of teaching are pretty ruthless as he brutally berates his students frequently by throwing insults at them whenever they make a mistake and he even dismisses one of them for allegedly being out of tune. Andrew soon also comes under fire from Fletcher as he begins to play as an alternate for the track "Whiplash" by Hank Levy and Fletcher continually pulls him up for poor timing on the track, which boils up to the point of Fletcher throwing a chair at Andrew, yelling at him and even slapping him for not keeping up the tempo.
Andrew meanwhile also begins dating a girl, Nicole (Melissa Benoist) who works as a movie theatre concessionist. However, its not long before Andrew's obsession with his drumming takes over and decides to make a pre-emptive strike to end their relationship as he tells Nicole that she would be ultimatley holding him back from progressing with his career as a drummer.
Sometime later, Fletcher's class attend a jazz competition, where Andrew is still an alternate for the core drummer of the band, Carl (Nate Lang). During a break, Andrew loses Carl's music sheets, which he cannot play without, so Andrew volunteers to play instead as he tells Fletcher he has studied the notes of "Whiplash" thoroughly and can play the track to which Fletcher agrees to. Andrew then goes on to successfully play the track for the band and he is soon promoted to core drummer.
However its not all plain sailing for Andrew as Fletcher recruits another drummer into the band, Connolly (Austin Towell) who is the core drummer in Andrew's former band group, which angers Flecther as he believes Connolly is not as good a drummer as he is. This soon leads to an intense night session where Andrew, Connolly and Carl all audition for the core drummer part with Andrew finally earning the part as his hands literally bleed from playing.
Enroute to another jazz competition, Andrew is forced to get a rental car to get there after the bus he was riding had broken down but he forgets to lift his drumsticks from the rental place. Andrew then shows up at the competition and argues with Fletcher about having no sticks and that he could give up the part he earned at a moment's notice. Andrew then races back to get his sticks from the rental office but he ends up his crashing his rental car in an accident. However, sustaining a head injury, Andrew determinedly heads back to the competition much to everyone's shock, he starts to play the track "Caravan" but its soon clear he cannot continue due to his injury. Fletcher then tells Andrew he is finished with the band, which enrages Andrew and he attacks Fletcher and is dragged off him by the other band members. Soon after, Andrew is sent a formal letter confirming his dismissal from the conservatory.
Not long after, Andrew's father, Jim Neiman (Paul Reiser) asks Andrew to meet with a lawyer, who is representing the parents of a former conservatory student named Sean Casey, whom Fletcher had tutored. Fletcher previously had told the class about Casey and that he died in a car accident but the lawyer tells Andrew that Casey, who had been struggling with depression, committed suicide, which was most likely as a result of Fletcher's abusive teaching methods. The lawyer requests that Andrew testify against Fletcher to prevent him from carrying on but assures Andrew that he will be kept anonymous to which Andrew agrees to testify and as a result, Fletcher is fired from the conservatory.
Months later, Andrew has given up on drumming and works at a restaurant but one night walking by a bar he notices a billboard with Fletcher's name on it and on entering the bar, Andrew finds Fletcher performing piano. After the show, Fletcher inivites Andrew to have a drink and afterward, Fletcher tells Andrew that he has a band playing an upcoming show at the JVC jazz festival and asks is Andrew would be interested in playing but tells him to think it over.
So, its from here that Andrew must decide if he will make his return as a drummer and take up Fletcher on his offer...
THOUGHTS
As a film, Whiplash is a highly entertaining and gripping experience, which is pretty intense right from the get go and its highlights are undoubtedly between the two leads of the film where we see JK Simmons and Miles Teller go at it and lock heads in an intense battle of the minds. The film however has of course been criticised by professional musicians, who have called it out as being totally unrealistic in its depiction of tuition towards students. And it would be fair to say that this indeed feels more like Full Metal Jacket goes to jazz school with the character of Fletcher being a ruthless, foul mouthed tyrant who berates his students at any given moment just like Lee Ermy did as Sgt Hartman did in FMJ.
Nonetheless I still think the film has to take certain license with the realities of music tuition in order for it to become an engrossing drama and on that scale it certainly succeeds as it would make for a rather dull experience if it didn't. And in that way this certainly has the feel more of an endurance film more than anything else where its about the survival of the fittest rather than the joy of creating music.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)
As for the performances, this is where Whiplash certainly works as the cast are all excellent in their respective roles and particularly the two leads.
Starting with Miles Teller who is great in his role as Andrew Neiman, the ambitious young jazz drum student who undergoes the cruel tutelage of Fletcher but in spite of it, he remains resolute in his ambition to make it as a professional drummer.
And Teller has his share of good scenes such as the one where Andrew decides to break up with his girlfriend, Nicole in a preemptive strike to better his chances of pursuing his career.
So, Andrew tells her "I'm just gonna lay it out there. This is why I don't think we should be together. And I've thought about it a lot and this is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna keep pursuing what I'm pursuing. And because I'm doing that, it's gonna take up more and more of my time. And I'm not gonna be able to spend as much time with you. And when I do spend time with you, I'm gonna be thinking about drumming. And I'm gonna be thinking about jazz music, my charts, all that. And because of that, you're gonna start to resent me. And you're gonna tell me to ease up on the drumming, spend more time with you because you're not feeling important. And I'm not gonna be able to do that. And really, I'm gonna start to resent you for even asking me to stop drumming. And we're just gonna start to hate each other. And it's gonna get very... It's gonna be ugly. And so for those reasons, I'd rather just, you know, break it off clean... because I wanna be great". And Nicole just sits there stunned and asks Andrew "And you're not?" and Andrew tells her "I want to be one of the greats" and Nicole asks "And I would stop you from doing that?" and Andrew bluntly tells her "Yes".
Then there is the scene where Andrew confronts Fletcher when he threatens to replace him as the core drummer in a jazz competition and Andrew has forgotten to lift his sticks after renting a car to get to the competition.
So, in the scene, Andrew turns up a bit late and Fletcher teases him for it and says "Well, glad you could fit us into your busy schedule, darling" and Andrew says "I know. Look, I'm sorry but I'm here and I'm ready to go". However Fletcher tells Andrew "Connelly's playing the part" and Andrew insolently says "Like fuckin hell he's gonna play my part!" which leaves Fletcher taken aback and he angrily asks him "What the fuck did you just say to me?" and Andrew says "Its my part". Fletcher then fires back at Andrew "Its MY part and I decide who to lend it to. Usually its someone with fucking sticks!". Fletcher however refuses to relent and tells Andrew "Neiman, you lost the part" but Andrew shouts at him "No, I didn't! You can't fucking do this to me!" which prompts further rage from Fletcher who yells back "CAN'T??!! When did you become an expert on what I can or can't do, you fucking weepy willow shitsack?!".
Andrew then angrily says to Fletcher "I earned that part" but Fletcher goes on to berate him more and Andrew spits back "I'm the best player in this studio band!" which annoys Connelly who says "Hey, bro, why don't just back off?" which prompts Andrew to yell "FUCK OFF, JOHNNY UTAH! TURN MY PAGES, BITCH!". Fletcher then glares at Andrew and says to him "I can cut you anytime I want" but Andrew remains defiant and says "You would have cut me already!" which angers Fletcher more who shouts "TRY ME, YOU FUCKING WEASEL!". Fletcher then warns Andrew that he has one chance to get back in 10 minutes with his sticks of Connelly will take over his part, so Andrew firmly tells Fletcher "Its MY part, I'll be on YOUR stage!" and he rushes off.
Then there is the following scene where Andrew get's into a car crash as he rushes to get back to the competition in his rental car but collides with another vehicle and he races back on foot and turns up with his head bleeding. So, Andrew starts to play the track "Caravan" but its clear he cannot continue and he is stopped by Fletcher, who coldly tells him "Neiman...you're done". So, this prompts Andrew jump off the kit and attack Fletcher and throw him to the ground as he yells at him "Piece of shit! I'll fucking kill you!!!". The other band members then rush in and restrain Andrew and pull him off Fletcher and drag him off as Andrew furiously shouts "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU, FLETCHER! FUCK YOU!!".
And then we have J.K. Simmons who provides what is unquestionably his best performance as the ruthless band instructor, Terence Fletcher, who's brutal teaching methods push his students and particularly, Andrew to the very limit.
And Simmons has too many scenes to quote from here as he gets all the film's best dialogue and moments, so I will try and narrow it down to just a few scenes.
So, to kick off there is the scene near the start where Fletcher chastises one of the unfortunate band members for apparently being out of tune. So, he singles out one of the players, Metz and he says to him calmly "Do you thin you're out of tune?". However, Metz is so scared he can't look up at Fletcher, who looks at him and says "What are you... there's no fucking Mars Bar down there, what are you looking at? Look up here, look at me. Do you think you were out of tune?". Metz finally summons the courage to respond with a frightened "Yes" and a nod, which causes Fletcher to unexpectedly explode at Metz "THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU SAY SO???!!!" which causes Metz to break down in tears.
Fletcher then tells Metz "Carried your fat ass for too long, Metz. I'm not gonna have you cost us a competition because your mind's on a fucking happy meal instead of on pitch! What are you still doing sitting there?! Get the fuck out!". So, Metz while sobbing gets up and leaves and Fletcher tells the other band members "For the record, Metz wasn't out of tune" and he looks to one of the other members "You were, Erickson, but he didn't know and that's bad enough".
Then there is the famous "rushing or dragging" scene (well if you are familiar with the film that is) where Fletcher begins to tear into Andrew for not being on time during a rehearsal of Whiplash.
So, after Andrew plays the start of "Whiplash" and has to constantly stop and start at Fletcher's say so, Fletcher finally snaps and throws a chair at Andrew's head, which narrowly misses him. So, Fletcher trying to restrain himself asks Andrew "Why do you think I just threw a chair at your head?" and Andrew nervously says "I don't know" and Fletcher tells him "Sure you do!" and Andrew asks "The tempo?" and Fletcher asks him "Where you rushing or were you dragging?" and Andrew nervously replies "I don't know". So, Fletcher then storms up to Andrew and tells him to start counting music time for him and he slaps him on the face as he does it and he grows more angry as they continue.
So, it gets to the point where Andrew begins to cry from Fletcher's abusive comments and Fletcher says quietly "Oh, dear God!You're upset, aren't you?" and Andrew nods and Fletcher says "Say it, so the whole band can hear you?". So, Andrew tearfully says "I'm upset" and Fletcher shouts at him "Louder!!" and Fletcher shouts even louder "LOUDER!!" and Andrew says it louder "I'm upset!!" and Fletcher yells even more "LOUDER!!!!" and Andrew finally yells "I'M UPSET!!". So, Fletcher then cruelly berates Andrew again and shouts "You are a worthless, friendless, faggot-lipped little piece of shit whose mommy left daddy when she figured out he wasn't Eugene O'Neill, and who is now weeping and slobbering all over my drum set like a fucking nine-year old girl! So for the final, FATHER-FUCKING time, SAY IT LOUDER!" and Andrew shouts "I'M UPSET!!!!". So, Fletcher finally relents and walks back to compose the band and tells Andrew "Start practicing harder, Neiman!".
Then there is the great scene where Fletcher pushes the band's three drummers to the absolute limit as he auditions them in turn to play a part and none of them can play it up to scratch, so he keeps berating them until one of them does.
So, in the scene Fletcher has a go at each drummer, Andrew, Connelly and Tanner and as Andrew tries to play the part, Fletcher yells at him "NOT MY FUCKING TEMPO!!". Fletcher then turns to the other band members and says to them "Sorry, guys. Hate to put you through this. If you need to fucking take a dump or get a coffee,whatever, now might be a good time. We're gonna stay until I find a drummer who can fucking play in time I apologize to the musicians. Seriously, take 10, 20, a fucking hour" and he says to the drummers "You hear me, cocksuckers?! You better start shitting me perfect 400s!".
And so the drummers continue to get grilled by Fletcher while the other musicians take a break, Andrew continues to try and nail the part but can't play fast enough. So, Fletcher holds up his hand and looks disgusted with him and asks Andrew "Is that really the fastest you can play, you worthless Hymie fuck?! No one wondered mommy ran out on you! Get off the fucking kit!". So, Andrew gets off and Tanner takes his turn to get verbally bashed as Fletcher shouts at him "And here comes mister gay pride of the Upper West Side himself. Unfortunately, this is not a Bette Midler concert, we will not be serving Cosmopolitans and Baked Alaska, so just play faster than you give fucking hand jobs, will you please?!". So, Tanner starts playing but can't play the tempo fast enough, so Fletcher stops him and says "Not even fucking close!". So, Connelly takes his turn and Fletcher mocks his Irish heritage and for adjusting the seat height only for Connelly once again failing to keep the tempo that Fletcher wants, so Fletcher yells at him "BULLSHIT!! FUCK YOU!! Get off!!".
So, Andrew sits at the kit once again and Fletcher wearily says to him "Neiman! Maybe its time to finally bring this home, what do you say? Show me!". So, Andrew starts playing a faster pace than the others that finally holds Fletcher's approval and he intensely looks at Andrew and tells him "Don't slow down! Pick it up!" and Andrew keeps on playing and Fletcher yells at him "FASTER!! FASTER!!". Fletcher then grabs a cowbell and a drumstick and strikes it close to Andrew's head to motivate him and he then throws the cowbell away and grabs the floor tom of the kit and throws it across the room as Andrew furiously tries to keep the pace going. So, Fletcher keeps yelling at Andrew "FASTER!!! KEEP PLAYING!!! KEEP PLAYING!! DON'T STOP!" and Andrew frantically keeps the fast pace going with all he has left in him and at that point Fletcher signals for Andrew to stop playing, who stops and gasps with relief as we see his hands are bleeding from playing so hard. Fletcher then finally calms down and looks at Andrew and tells him "Neiman, you earned the part" and he looks to Connelly and Tanner and says to them "Alternates, do you want to clean the blood off my drum set?" as Andrew sinks over the kit in sheer exhaustion.
Then there is the scene where Fletcher confronts Andrew over his turning up late at a jazz competition without his sticks and threatens to have Connelly play his drum part instead. So, as the two of them argue, Fletcher warns Andrew "At 5:30, that's in exactly 11 minutes, my band is on stage. If your ass is not on that stool with your own fucking sticks in hand or you make ONE FUCKING MISTAKE, ONE! I will drum your ass back to Nassau where you can turn pages until you graduate or fucking drop out! By the time you're done at Shaffer, you're gonna make Daddy look like a fucking success story. Got it? Or, we can let Johnny Utah play the part. You choose!".
And last of all is the scene where Fletcher meets with Andrew after Andrew attends a gig that Fletcher played in a bar in New York, months after both of them left the conservatory. So, as the two of them share a drink, Fletcher tells Andrew his philosophy on teaching his former students as well as the story of how the legendary jazz drummer, Charlie Parker, made a name for himself.
So, Fletcher tells Andrew "And a year later he (Charlie Parker) goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage and he plays the best motherfucking solo the world has ever heard. So imagine if Jones just said "Well, that's okay Charlie. That was alright. Good job." Then Charlie thinks to himself "Well, shit. I did do a pretty good job." End of story. No Bird. That, to me, is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. People wonder why jazz is dying. I'll tell you, man - and every Starbucks "jazz" album just proves my point, really - there are no two words in the English language more harmful than "good job"". And Fletcher then admits to Andrew "The truth is, Andrew, I never really had a Charlie Parker. But I tried. I actually fucking tried, and that's more than most people ever do. And I will never apologize for how I tried".
As for the supporting cast, I won't bother quoting any dialogue as the other parts aren't quite so prominent in comparison to the two main leads but I will give them a mention of course as they are also excellent here.
For starters, Paul Reiser does a fine job here as Andrew's father, Jim Neiman, who is a school teacher, who is also an aspiring writer and he looks out for his son as well as keeps going to the movies with him as a tradition. Later on, Jim also persuades Andrew to testify against Fletcher after the news of a former student of his had taken his own life most likely as a result of Fletcher's abusive methods.
Melissa Benoist is also pretty good in her role as Nicole, Andrew's brief love interest in the film as the two of them start dating but it very quickly doesn't go anywhere as a result of Andrew's obsession with his career to become one of the great jazz drummers. And Melissa delivers a nicely understated performance here and its just a pity that her role is underwritten here.
Austin Stowell also does well in his role as Ryan Connolly, a fellow drum student of Andrew's who ends up playing for Fletcher as well and as a result it develops a bitter rivalry between the two as Andrew resents Fletcher for bringing him into the band. Stowell however given his physique here
actually looks more like a high school jock here than an actual drum student it has to be said!
And last of all is Nate Lang who also is pretty good in his role as Carl Tanner, one of Andrew's rival drummers in the studio band and a growing resentment forms in Tanner as he sees Andrew become better than him and he eventually takes over as the core drummer for the band.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the director, Damien Chazelle does a fine job here and he was also the writer for the screenplay, so he earns double the credit as his script is filled with some great dialogue and he also paces out the film very well as its pretty tight run time wise at just over 1 hour and 45 minutes. Chazelle also expertly builds up the tension between Fletcher and Andrew as the two of them lock heads throughout. Chazelle himself actually based the film on his experiences playing drums in his high school band where he also had to deal with an abusive band leader. So, of course even though Chazelle must have endured a lot of crap at the hands of his instructor, its certainly paid off well for him since then.
As for the music score it was composed by Justin Hurwitz which is very good although the score itself is split up between the original compositions for the film and the classical jazz tracks that the studio band play in the film. The jazz tracks featured are of course "Whiplash" by Eugene Levy, "Caravan" by Duke Ellington and "Intoit" by Stan Getz.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
So, flaws...does Whiplash have any??? Well, despite how much I enjoyed it, I still have to say it does have its share.
For starters what I would say about the film that didn't work quite so well is that it really forgets to deal with any sense of joy involved in musical creativity as you never once see anyone smiling while they rehearse or plays songs, its just played out more like an intense sports movie where everyone is trying outdo each other! So, in this respect the film really doesn't carry over any passion from the characters and what they get out of the music, its more they are just driven to succeed rather than enjoy what they are doing.
Another issue I had was simply to do with the whole idea of someone like Fletcher being able to even teach in a music school in the first place! I mean the guy is not only yelling at students but slapping them and throwing chairs at them (in the case of Andrew) and anyone who did in that in reality would have been fired on the spot surely for gross misconduct! Not only that but surely there would have been other tutors nearby hearing Fletcher yelling and hurling insults at his students yet NOTHING is done about him from the stand point of the tutors that are there, which suggests to me that Fletcher is very high up in the school or they are all terrified of him!
I also found the scenes where we see Andrew practice until his hands literally bleed also pretty silly and far fetched as having watched a few Youtube videos after by professional drummers and musicians, none of them have EVER said they encountered a drummer that played the drums so hard they bled! So, for the film to include these over the top moments where Andrew is bleeding over Fletcher's drum kit and indeed his own are just ridiculous! I also found it a bit incredible to think that Andrew could somehow even punch a big hole through his snare drum head! I mean the skin of snare drums are pretty thick, so the notion that a guy like Andrew could punch through it is pretty stupid quite frankly!
I also felt that the film pretty much marginalizes the other characters in it as it really is also all about Andrew and Fletcher, so everyone else pretty much takes a back seat here. It also further emphasizes that this film could have played out almost better as a two hander with very few other cast members involved with the exception of the band members of course as so much attention put on these two and not much on everyone else. So, the other characters such as Andrew's dad and girlfriend are just merely bystanders here.
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IS A SPOILER!
And last of all, there is that frankly ridiculous scene where Andrew is involved in a car accident and despite sustaining injuries to his head and hands, he decides to make his way back to play in a jazz competition! Now to me this is just plain stupid! I mean this guy has just been in a bad car accident, yet despite a bleeding head and maybe also a concussion, he decides "Yep! I can still play!" and heads back to play only to mess it up due to his injuries. Its just yet another moment of Hollywood making us suspend disbelief but even for me this really was a real moment of unbelievable BS which could not have been harder to believe!
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Whiplash is a very entertaining, engrossing and intense film that basically resembles the idea of Full Metal Jacket in a jazz school! The performances from the cast are all excellent and in particular J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller are both great in their respective roles and Simmons himself certainly deserved to take home the Academy Award he won for this film for his role of the ruthless, foul mouthed band instructor, Terence Fletcher. And yeah the film is a bit far fetched at times and forgets to show the idea of musicians actually enjoying the music they play and instead uses the idea of turning the whole tuition process into the survival of the fittest, which actually makes it more like a sports film than a musical one.
However if you can forgive its flaws, Whiplash is still a pretty good film well worth checking out and I would certainly recommend giving it a go.
Right, that's it for now and I will be back again sometime soon with another post.
Till then its bye for now!
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