Whiplash – Captivating reach for perfection

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2014)

Full Review:
Andrew (Miles Teller) is a young and talented drummer enrolled in one of the best music colleges. He is mentored by Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an absolute perfectionist who believes there is no line that can be crossed when trying to bring out the greatness in a student. The film follows Andrew as he is consumed and abused by Fletcher to the absolute limits, hoping to be one of the greats. Whiplash is a psychological battle between individuals that is tense at every palm sweating second of the movie. You will be completely captivated by the riveting performances by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, who show an acting side that we have never seen from them. This is not an easy movie to watch for some disturbing decisions made by the characters, but it is oh so rewarding to experience!
Quickie Review:
For me, Miles Teller for a long time was just some comedy actor. After watching another movie of his The Spectacular Now, I saw a potential in him to be more than that. So that is the reason I wanted to see Whiplash, but he simply blew me away more than I had expected. Equally J.K. Simmons' character is still haunting me after watching the movie.
The most enticing and attention grabbing moments were when Andrew and Fletcher were in a scene together. It is a constant back-and- forth head butting of tolerance for each other. Andrew can be disobedient towards his mentor, and meanwhile Fletcher would be physically and verbally abusive. Seeing how they react to certain situations sometimes made my jaw drop and leave me speechless. There were moments where I'd repeatedly think "why, WHY? Why is he doing this?" as if they are real people. I know they are just some characters on a screen but because of the strong on-screen chemistry (as stressful as it was), I felt compelled to react.
This brings me to the stellar acting by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, without whom Whiplash wouldn't be the gem that it is. I loved seeing the absolute dedication Teller showed through his character. So much so that in some scenes Teller is in actual physical pain that his character would be experiencing. Watching the drive for greatness destroy his other aspects of life and life itself felt very real and palpable. Many of you might know Simmons for playing J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-man movies, take that character make him more short-tempered, get rid of the lovable quality, and un-censor everything that comes out of his mouth, that's Fletcher (scary I know). One quote from the movie perfectly sums him up, Fletcher says "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job.'" It can't be any clearer how much he despises anything less than perfect. Well Simmons, if I were to ever meet you, I'd say you were perfect.
This is yet another movie that is not widely released on every major screen. I had to go out of my way to see it in another city. But I have to stress, because of the exceptional acting talent Whiplash is worth going out of your way to experience.
Check out more on my movie review blog The Stub Collector: http://thestubcollector.wordpress.com/