A movie all about music for those that understand it

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2018)

A budding jazz pianist (Miles Teller) is admitted into the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory where he comes under the eye of the legendary Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons), who promptly starts driving him like a dog, trying to take him as far beyond his human limits as possible.
Frankly speaking, movies about music have never been my thing. I'm in no way musically talented or inclined, and thus whenever, for example, there's that one scene where someone has to play something over and over again, getting yelled at the same time to get it right, until it finally goes, it just doesn't open up to me. Every single take sounds the same. Might be that that's the purpose, but I do believe that you're meant to hear the subtle differences if you're good enough.
And in that regard I don't think Whiplash has what it takes to take someone on a journey into the world of music. A movie about war, for example, can show you what it would be like to be there on the battlefield. But then that's explicitly what it is trying to do. Whereas Whiplash seems to be about music made by those that get it to those that also get it.
Luckily music is only half of the movie. The second big theme is greatness and what is needed to achieve it. Because it cannot be just about raw talent. Every day a person is born with the capability to become a great musician. But few of them end up in the business and only a few of those have the drive needed to urge them onward even when they've already achieved some measure of success.
Whiplash is a fine film. Personally I didn't find it as compelling as it probably is to so many others, but I can definitely recognize talent, heart and soul when I see it.