There is nobody more boring in the world that extremely successful people. Nothing a best-selling author *, an award-winning actor or an elite athlete has to say holds anything of value to mere mortals, because who they are isn't what they do, and it sure shit isn't why you love them in the first place. Am I making sense here? I knew I was going to like WHIPLASH from the moment I've seen the trailer, because of this very idea. What is that stands between greatness and common folk? How can someone become immortal through his craft? It's the kind of existential questions that I'm always asking myself, and it also happens that it's the kind of questions WHIPLASH has pretty clear answers to. They're not nice answers, but they're interesting ones and that's what's important, isn't it?
Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is a young and passionate drummer who just got accepted to Shaffer Conservatory, one of the most prestigious music schools in the world. After being humiliated at a band practice by reputable professor Terrence Fletcher (J.K Simmons), Andrew is determined to become a drummer worthy of his teacher's impossible standards. The more he sacrifices though, the bigger is the place music occupies in his life and the most important professor Fletcher's opinion becomes to him. When all of your life lies in the opinion and acknowledgement of a man who knows pertinently well he can use it against you and break you in half, it's how tough you are and how long you can live with unbearable tension that will make you stand out from the pack.
I know very little about the production of WHIPLASH, but I can tell you that no executive's dirty paws has tampered with it. It's a pretty pure film. The screenplay is lean, intense and focused, and the direction is seamless and quietly stylish. Of course, J.K Simmons is absolutely wonderful and terrifying as Terrence Fletcher and should in the Academy Award for Best Male Supporting Actor quite easily. It's been discussed ad nauseam already on the internet. But can someone make an intelligent argument as to why Miles Teller didn't receive at least a nomination for Best Male Lead Actor?
I heard plenty of rumours about Teller's involvement in WHIPLASH saying he was only picked because he could play drums, and that he didn't impress anybody on set. Well, fuck everybody on set, I thought he was great. He might not be on par with J.K Simmons' psychological boogeyman act, but Miles Teller show in WHIPLASH that he can play, and communicate emotion through facial microexpression like young men do. His game is almost entirely non-verbal, and based on replicating a slowly morphing and adapting adolescent behavior in times of stress. Miles Teller's performance in WHIPLASH is as strong as it is original and I believe it's one of the very reasons why the movie is so freakin' good. So don't shit on Teller on my watch, m'kay?
Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is a young and passionate drummer who just got accepted to Shaffer Conservatory, one of the most prestigious music schools in the world. After being humiliated at a band practice by reputable professor Terrence Fletcher (J.K Simmons), Andrew is determined to become a drummer worthy of his teacher's impossible standards. The more he sacrifices though, the bigger is the place music occupies in his life and the most important professor Fletcher's opinion becomes to him. When all of your life lies in the opinion and acknowledgement of a man who knows pertinently well he can use it against you and break you in half, it's how tough you are and how long you can live with unbearable tension that will make you stand out from the pack.
I know very little about the production of WHIPLASH, but I can tell you that no executive's dirty paws has tampered with it. It's a pretty pure film. The screenplay is lean, intense and focused, and the direction is seamless and quietly stylish. Of course, J.K Simmons is absolutely wonderful and terrifying as Terrence Fletcher and should in the Academy Award for Best Male Supporting Actor quite easily. It's been discussed ad nauseam already on the internet. But can someone make an intelligent argument as to why Miles Teller didn't receive at least a nomination for Best Male Lead Actor?
I heard plenty of rumours about Teller's involvement in WHIPLASH saying he was only picked because he could play drums, and that he didn't impress anybody on set. Well, fuck everybody on set, I thought he was great. He might not be on par with J.K Simmons' psychological boogeyman act, but Miles Teller show in WHIPLASH that he can play, and communicate emotion through facial microexpression like young men do. His game is almost entirely non-verbal, and based on replicating a slowly morphing and adapting adolescent behavior in times of stress. Miles Teller's performance in WHIPLASH is as strong as it is original and I believe it's one of the very reasons why the movie is so freakin' good. So don't shit on Teller on my watch, m'kay?
Here's all the tortured beauty of WHIPLASH, in one frame.
The thesis of WHIPLASH is as terrifying as J.K Simmons' face (pictured above): it's possible to engineer greatness from inhumanity. The screenplay of Damien Chazelle is so psychologically accurate, it'll get to you even if you're not the creative type. It's like he's following a bomb recipe: take passionate and driven kids, make them feel like they're not worthy of what they love the most and observe who works has enough to deliver. Start over once they improve, until you find the greatest musician who ever lived. It's thoroughly inhuman and Darwinist, but evolution and immortality are not humane. It's not obtained with kisses and hugs, no matter how bad you'd like it to be. I loved WHIPLASH for denying the beta viewer what he wanted, but I loved it even more for saying that not everybody is cut out to be great. It's an oddly empowering statement.
WHIPLASH has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, this year. Of course, it's not going to win. It's too good to get the award. It's too cut-throat and uncompromizing. Not unlike DRIVE was in the 2012 ceremony. WHIPLASH is infinitely more accessible, but it's still a movie that didn't sacrifice its integrity for recognition and the academy has a tradition of not recognizing that. I am not done yet reviewing the Oscars nominees, but I have a strong feeling that WHIPLASH is by far the best film out there, for it is universal, thought-provoking (I do not use this expression lightly), seamless and without fear. Truth is, there just aren't all that many films of this quality out there and that it's been a couple years since the Oscars had a such a good film nominated for its most coveted award.
WHIPLASH has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, this year. Of course, it's not going to win. It's too good to get the award. It's too cut-throat and uncompromizing. Not unlike DRIVE was in the 2012 ceremony. WHIPLASH is infinitely more accessible, but it's still a movie that didn't sacrifice its integrity for recognition and the academy has a tradition of not recognizing that. I am not done yet reviewing the Oscars nominees, but I have a strong feeling that WHIPLASH is by far the best film out there, for it is universal, thought-provoking (I do not use this expression lightly), seamless and without fear. Truth is, there just aren't all that many films of this quality out there and that it's been a couple years since the Oscars had a such a good film nominated for its most coveted award.