Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 106 minutes (~1.75 hours)
“Whiplash” is a drama about the rise of a young drummer as he trains under one of the harshest jazz teachers in a music college. The movie stars Miles Teller (Andrew Neiman), J. K. Simmons (Terence Fletcher), Paul Reiser (Mr. Neiman), and Melissa Benoist (Nicole).
If you were to read just the plot summary for “Whiplash” alone, you could be forgiven for writing it off as a boring film. But what appears to be a simple musical drama turns out to be a gripping battle of wills between teacher and student in a clash of musical ideologies. While music might play a huge part in the film, it’s not a musical – so rest assured that characters won’t burst into song halfway, and neither will strangely elaborate musical pieces start playing as part of the background score.
Highlights
Intense conflicts
Each clash between Andrew and Fletcher leaves you cringing at the extent that both parties will go to for their goals. The tension runs high during every encounter, putting your nerves on edge. And with such powerful struggles in every other scene, the movie keeps the stakes high from the very beginning all the way to the fantastic finale.
J. K. Simmons is riveting
Fletcher steals every scene he’s in – and that’s a lot of scenes! Whether it be yelling at someone, violently conducting his band, or simply observing someone play, Fletcher is amazingly interesting to watch. It’s not so much a matter of if, but when his fuse will snap, and the mayhem that will ensue as a result. J. K. Simmons gives a hypnotic performance as Fletcher that, combined with the high levels of tension, holds you in thrall for the entire movie.
Character driven story
As mentioned earlier, this is a about the meeting of two strong wills, their clashes and cooperation, and the eventual resolution of differing opinions. As a result, each beat in the story is motivated entirely by character (rather than coincidences or unfortunate events), resulting in a very rich and emotion-laden story.
Interesting musical performances
Not being musically inclined myself, I wasn’t able to understand the more technical aspects of their explanations. What was appreciated was the variety and skill of the leads, and their inspiring performances. The musical segments take on a character of their own, infusing their own traits into the film, such that they could very well be considered one of the cast members themselves.
Letdowns
Andrew Neiman is incredible uncharismatic
As skilled as Andrew is, he lacks any sort of likeability whatsoever. It’s not entirely clear whether this is intentional on Miles Teller’s part, or whether in his desire to portray single-minded dedication, Teller has forgotten that we need to empathise with the audience.
And this is the crux of the problem. It’s not so much your empathy for the protagonist, but your desire to see Fletcher being brought low that makes you root for Andrew. In the end, you don’t really care what Andrew’s fate is.
A pointless love story
The relationship between Andrew and Nicole goes absolutely nowhere. It’s almost as if they shot a few scenes to chuck in as an ostensible love story. Nicole hardly interacts with anyone besides Andrew, and their relationship neither brings growth to the characters nor complicates the plot. You’d never miss it if it weren’t there.
“Whiplash” relies on realistic, relatable, and well-rounded characters to tell its story. It might be a simple approach, but that is precisely the charm of this movie. It shows us that it doesn’t take much more than the authentic interactions of two people to give us a memorable, and insightful film.
“Whiplash” opens in cinemas 15 January, 2015 (Thursday).
This review was also published on Yahoo Singapore.
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