Whiplash (2014)

Whiplash is a psychological drama which was released in 2014 and was released by Sony Pictures, the film was directed by Damien Chazelle. Damien Chazelle has directed three films since the release of Whiplash which includes; La La Land, First Man and Babylon. Whiplash was actually only released to allow Damien Chazelle to gain the funding which he needed to create La La Land. Whiplash is loosely based on Damien’s real college experience when he was in the Princeton High School Studio Band as he had an intense music teacher who was the inspiration for Terrence Fletcher in the film. However, Damien was different from Andrew Neiman who did not become a greater drummer and instead decided to study film-making at Harvard University and graduated in 2007. Whiplash was picked up by Blumhouse productions and Damien made an 18-minute short of what he wanted the film to be and the short contained JK Simmons as Terrance Fletcher and Johnny Simmons as Andrew Neiman. The 18-minute short was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where the film received praise and then received funding for the feature film to be created. In the final version of the film, JK Simmons was cast as Terrance Fletcher, but Johnny Simmons was replaced for Miles Teller for the role of Andrew Neiman. The film went on to receive high amounts of praise, with five Oscar nominations and three wins. The film won best supporting actor with JK Simmons gaining the award, Film Editing and sound editing. The cast of the film includes Miles Teller who plays Andrew Neiman, JK Simmons who plays Terrance Fletcher, Paul Reiser who plays Jim Neilman and Melissa Benoist who plays Nicole. JK Simmons is an American actor who has appeared in 137 film projects and is widely known for portraying J. Jonah Jameson in the spider-man films and has won an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Critics Choice Award Winner. JK Simmons had a short role in Damien Chazelle’s next film La La Land. Miles Teller is an American actor who has appeared in 31 films and has won an award for his performance in the 2013 film The Spectacular Now at the Sundance Film Festival. He has recently appeared in Top Gun Maverick as Rooster. Paul Reiser is an American Actor who has appeared in 49 films and his known for his roles in the TV sitcom Mad About You and the Bevery Hills Cop Duology. Melissa Benoist is known for her roles in television shows such as Glee and Supergirl. Whiplash is a film about Andrew Neiman who is a musical student at the prestigious college Shaffer Conservatory, who has the goal of becoming one of the best drummers in the world. Andrew still goes to the movies with his dad, and whilst he is there, he asks a girl called Nicole if she would like to go for pizza some time. He is in his first year of college and wants to be a part of Fletchers Studio Band. One morning Fletcher sees Andrew practicing his Drumming, and from then he makes sure everything he does will impress Fletcher. One day in class, Fletcher enters Andrew’s class and asks to hear the band play and then asks Andrew to come to his band the next day. Andrew comes to the realisation that Fletcher strikes fear into his students to make sure that they are the best they can possibly be, during this time Andrew does not play but simply turns the music for the primary drummer in the band. Andrew is given a chance to play and after messing up the tempo a few times, he gets a chair thrown at his head and slapped. Despite this, Andrew still wants to impress Fletcher and become a great drummer. Andrew attends the rest of the core band to a music competition; the core drummer trusts Andrew with the music and Andrew ends up losing it. This leads to Andrew replacing the core drummer for the musical competition, as the core drummer cannot remember the music. Andrew impresses Fletcher, and the in the next class Andrew replaces the core drummer and is no longer the alternative drum player. Andrew's time as the core drummer does not last long, as Fletcher introduces another drum player who was the core drummer in Andrew’s first class. This annoys Andrew, as he knows he is a much better drummer than Ryan and they may be a chance for him to get replaced as core drummer. Fletcher has Andrew, Ryan and the original core drummer to compete to see who the best drummer is. This takes hours and eventually this leads to Andrew winning the core drumming spot on the band. Andew realises that if he is going to stay the core drummer in the band then he is only going to need to focus on music and breaks up with Nicole. The next musical competition takes place and Andrew is late for the performance due to his bus stopping. He ends up renting a car but forgets to bring the music with him and when he arrives Fletcher tells him that Ryan is going to be playing the set. This leads to Andrew becoming frustrated as he knows that he is the only person for the job and Fletcher tells him that he has five minutes to get the music otherwise Ryan is going to be playing. Andrew gets the music and, on his way, back ends up being hit by a truck and instead of going to the hospital to make sure that he is okay he goes back to the musical competition. Andrew is covered in blood and cannot play the set; this ends up making Fletcher tell the audience that Shafer will have to forfeit from the competition and out of rage Andrew ends up attacking Fletcher. This causes Andrew to be expelled from the college and Andrew meets with a lawyer who represents a family whose son killed himself after studying with Fletcher. The lawyer asked Andrew to testify anonymously against Fletcher, and this causes Fletcher to be expelled from Shafer. Later, Andrew walks into a bar where he sees Fletcher playing the piano and they end up talking and Andrew pretends that he was not the one who testified against Fletcher. Fletcher asks Andrew is he wants to be part of his new band, and Andrew agrees. Before performing, Andrew asks Nicole if she would like to see if play in the competition and she says she would need to ask her boyfriend and would maybe come. The rest of the film cannot be disclosed as people need to see it for themselves to get the true picture of Chazelle’s true vision. The strengths of the film include the musical score, it gives the impression that you are actually there with the band, and it causes people who do not have any interest in Jazz to understand why people enjoy Jazz so much. Another strength is the performance of the cast, especially JK Simmons and Miles Teller. JK Simmons makes the audience scared of him and makes you understand why Miles Teller is so fearful of Fletcher, but at the same time he makes you understand why Andrew is so motivated to impress Fletcher. Miles also gives a good performance because he makes you not like him, most protagonists in films are meant to be perfect and have no faults. But Whiplash has the protagonist have clear faults and Miles is able to present this clearly the 18-minute short was not able to achieve this as Johnny Simmons is not able to present this. Johnny Simmons performance is weaker compared to Miles Teller, as you gain the impression that Andrew has no faults and overall, just makes the film difficult to watch. Finally, another strength within the film is the cinematography of the film which was done by Sharone Meir and the cinematography is strong because it has rapid pans and sharp costs which is similar to the music which is being played in the film. Although, there are some weaknesses in the film which affect the flow of the film. The girlfriend plot of the film, I felt was conventional and unnecessary. If Nicole was removed from the film, then not much would change, and the film would still retain its strengths. In my opinion, Whiplash disservices a 4.5/5. I have watched two other Damien Chazelle films which includes La La Land and Babylon and Whiplash is easily his best. The film keeps you engaged throughout the whole run time and the performances makes you feel like you are actually there. Overall, I would definitely recommend this film for every individual, and is easily one of the best films from the 21st century or of all time.