Buddy Rich approved

Rating: 10/10 (15 February 2015)

I could write a long review like all the others here, but since I fully expect you to read those before you get to mine I'll stick to the core here. Miles Teller as Andrew and J.K. Simmons as Fletcher are the film. It's about the the blood the sweat and the tears of music. I was training as a boy to be a piano player and later played tenor sax in school.Because I had tough teachers I learned to stretch , to be full of myself sometimes and other times know that I didn't know it all no matter how good I thought I was.
The dynamic here is gripping to the point I could not tear myself away but during the travel bit involving a rental car. From start to finish you know that what you see is real, there is no lowering of standards for the non musical or the that's really nice crowd. Every moment to the most extreme, has happened in practice or in your head or in the teacher's head at least once and more often than not the bits some will think exaggerated are if anything not as brutal as the real thing.
And so we come to the drumming, was it him or was it clever editing and some anonymous hero? The simple answer is it was Miles Teller playing, but with help from extended takes and lots of practice, that's why it's so good. And it's no accident that he has pictures of Buddy Rich all over the place, I saw Buddy Rich live as well as see him practice with his band for over an hour when he came through my part of the world. Not only was that man a beast on drums, he expected only the best from his orchestra. A perfectionist, he ran that practice like a drill sergeant getting results worthy of the most knowledgeable paying customer in the hall. In both teacher and student, the ghost of Buddy Rich haunts and possesses them body and soul.
Whiplash proves that sometimes you need to be an arsehole if you're going to be the best at anything. I regret not pushing harder to keep my piano teacher, but then again I was 10 and being a dickhead thinking I could just jump ahead and improvise during lessons before I had proved to my teacher's satisfaction I had nailed the material. Practice and discipline above and beyond the call of ordinary are the other pillars and in Whiplash you see that in abundance.
As music films go, and they are rare as hens teeth to start with, Whiplash touches on all the elements you'd know are missing only if you ever studied music seriously. I loved it, I hope lots of people go out and see it so more such films will be made in future.