Whiplash
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Whiplash is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It premiered in competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2014, as the festival's opening film; it won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for drama. The film opened in limited release domestically in the United States and Canada on October 10, 2014, gradually expanding to over 500 screens, with Sony Pictures acquired the worldwide distribution rights, releasing the film under its Sony Pictures Classics and Stage 6 Films banners for its North American and international releases, respectively.
Plot
Andrew Neiman, who is aspiring to become a professional drummer, enrolls Shaffer Conservatory. The only obstacle that sits between him and his desire for success, is his abusive and ruthless instructor, Terrance Fletcher, who will stop at nothing to make sure that his music is played perfectly.
Why It Deserves To Become a Professional Drummer
- Amazing performances, especially from Miles Teller and J. K. Simmons, whom the latter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor because of his performance.
- Beautiful cinematography, which brings out the film's dark nature.
- Great Soundtrack, the music is extraordinary to listen to.
- Most of the characters are well-written and likable.
- An example is Andrew Neiman. He is a first-year student at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory in New York City. He has been playing drums from a young age and aspires to become a world-class drummer like Buddy Rich.
- Another example is Terence Fletcher, despite being extremely abusive and ruthless for a music teacher and a jazz instructor. He is still a fair man and he only wants the best from all his students (an example is that he helps Andrew to preform "Whiplash" from memory). However, do check BQs #1 and 2 for regarding Fletcher.
- Memorable quotes like "Not quite my tempo", "rushing", "dragging", and "FASTER!"
- This movie captures what anxiety and emotional abuse feel like.
- Great ending shot where Fletcher and Neiman don't exchange any words but Fletcher just gives him a look of approval.
Bad Qualities
- Watching Fletcher berate and shout at the students, can be very hard to watch. This is true, especially if you had to deal with abuse in your life.
- Speaking of which, the part where he hurled a chair at Neiman's head was beyond extreme (thankfully Neiman dodged it in time). What's even more shocking is that he never gets arrested for anything that he's done throughout the film.
- Carl blaming Neiman for losing the former's folder was quite irritating to look at. Based on that, it can be very easy to just hate that character because of the way that he spoke to Neiman and what's worse is that, he doesn't even apologize for shouting at him!
- Anachronism: The rental car that Andrew drives is a 2004-2007 Ford Taurus. Cars are only kept by rental firms for up to a couple of years due to the wear and tear they tend to go through, so this car is far too old for a rental car (this film is set in 2014). A dashboard shot also shows a mileage of over 100,000 miles.
Reception
Whiplash received widespread critical acclaim and it was one of the films, that really launched Damien Chazelle's successful career in the film industry. Whiplash has a score of 94% on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 296 reviews, with a rating average of 8.60/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Intense, inspiring, and well-acted, Whiplash is a brilliant sophomore effort from director Damien Chazelle and a riveting vehicle for stars J. K. Simmons and Miles Teller.". On Metacritic the film has a score of 88 out of 100, based on reviews from 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim." The film was nominated for the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Mixing, in which the film won the latter 3 awards.
Trivia
- This film is based of the short film Whiplash, which was released the year prior to this film.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the movie as being based on the short film of the same name by Chazelle, due to the short being premiered in the Sundance Film Festival a year prior to the theatrical film being released. Although, in reality, the short film was actually based on scenes of the original full-length script written before, and the short was created to attract investors into creating the full-length film.
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