First-time writer/director Damien Chazelle's Whiplash has been getting a lot of buzz from the festival circuit over the past months, and now it's finally receiving a wide release.
The story centers on Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), a student at New York's Shaffer Conservatory of Music, who's trying to realize his dream of being "one of the greats". Being recognized by Shaffer's most prominent -- and harsh -- music professors, Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) would go a long way in helping Andrew realize that goal. But is he up for the challenge?
A snippet from my theatrical review:
The story centers on Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), a student at New York's Shaffer Conservatory of Music, who's trying to realize his dream of being "one of the greats". Being recognized by Shaffer's most prominent -- and harsh -- music professors, Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) would go a long way in helping Andrew realize that goal. But is he up for the challenge?
A snippet from my theatrical review:
4 out of 5.You don't have to be a jazz aficionado to get swept up in the story. Just about anyone who's ever sacrificed something in pursuit of a goal will easily identify with Andrew and his struggles. But the character does take things to unusual (even borderline cartoonish) extremes: practicing his drumming till his hands are raw and bloody and sabotaging his own relationship with his girlfriend (Melissa Benoist) because he anticipates she'll hold him back. At one point, he even insists on playing, in spite of sustaining serious injuries, with disastrous results.Still, Teller's performance is nothing short of engrossing, both in straightforward scenes where he's simply engaging other actors in conversation, but especially when he contorts his face in agony, sweat dripping off his brow, as he tries his hardest to be Shaffer's answer to the Energizer Bunny. The actor also has a natural on-screen rapport with Paul Reiser, who plays his supportive father, a failed writer (turned high school English teacher) who has trouble comprehending why his son would put himself through such torture.However, the film wouldn't be nearly half as interesting without Simmons, filling a role that often seems to exist purely to antagonize Andrew, viciously tearing him down whenever he manages to claim a small victory. In another actor's hands, Fletcher could easily have devolved into a caricature, but Simmons has a knack for this type of performance. He machine-guns his way through line after line of sarcastically scathing dialog, commanding the audience's full attention every time he strides on-screen, and it's his interplay with Teller that gives the film its mesmerizing rhythm.