Whiplash (2014)

Created by Damien Chazelle and starring Miles Teller and J.K Simmons, Whiplash is a deep character study of how ambition can destroy a person. It is a pretty good film.

Firstly the best part of this film is J.K Simmons as Terrance Fletcher. He delivers such a raw performance and gives it all, especially when he is yelling at Miles Teller. His motives are uncertain, one moment he is saying he wants the best for Neiman and the next he is throwing a chair at his head. But in the end you can tell he does believe what he is doing will create the next great jazz musician. The perfect villain is the one that doesn't believe they are the villain.

Miles Teller as Neiman is heartbreaking, you can see how everything in his life dissipates when he meets Fletcher. You become incredibly invested in Neiman's story but don't want him to succeed because you know it is going to make his life worse. The performance is added to by Miles Teller actually being a drum player, he realistically plays the drum at super speeds and you can imagine this would start to make his knuckles bleed.

For a film about Jazz you would expect the music to be good, and it is. The music is energetic and overwhelming, making you feel like Neiman as everything begins to implode around you. The second Fletcher stops the band all other sounds stops, showing the fear the band has for him.

The character of Neiman is incredibly well developed, beginning as someone who doesn't want much from life but once he realises what he could get in Fletcher's band he starts down a road of self-destruction. His father is a reflection of what he could be if he doesn't work hard in Studio Band and acts as the driving force from the film.

As a film Whiplash is something incredibly special and only comes around rarely. It is truly unique and offers incredible characters, performances and music.