Powerful--and thin, and the "jazz" is handcuffed "band" music

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2015)

Whiplash (2014)
Wow, the best of this is intense and disturbing and invigorating. It's about never never never cutting corners. It's about pushing and being your best until you break, and then keeping going. Who can't get revved up about that?
The scene is a mythical music school, something like Julliard and Berkeley combined— intense and serious, with an element of jazz built in. And the competition, expected as it is, pushed students beyond their comfort zone to absurd and inspiring degrees. The scenes where the music leader (teacher and bandleader played by J.K. Simmons) goes apeshit over the bumbling of his students are quite shocking. I'm an art teacher, and I tried it out one day, even warning the student I was going to do it and showing the preview to the movie first, and it went very badly.
The student in the movie who anchors the plot is the unknown Miles Teller, who is just fine in the role. He pushes and struggles and suffers—and eventually comes through, though with some serious convolutions.
So, on the surface, this will thrill and wow most viewers. And I liked all of this a lot. But the plot is mostly just what I've described. There are two additions to it, one dismissible (the love life of the student) an the other the one socially probing aspect, which you'll have to wait to see. Excellent and needed.
But not enough. If you love jazz, or have played jazz (I've done both in my limited way), you might balk at the music here. Yes. Surprise! Because this is all written out band music with jazz inflections. Until the last scene, which is critical, there is no improvisational jazz at all—none! In fact, the music struck me so cold I almost stopped watching. I hope you won't have the same problem, but it's there.
I also found the overall plot so narrow I couldn't quite get past its linearity. Even the psychology of the two leads is mostly left to rants and bleeding fingers and disgust. It's oddly superficial, even if it strikes you at first as completely about psychological depth.
Still, it's remarkable in its own way, and I totally recommend seeing it. The shocks will be wonderfully shocking, and the idea of doing your best, which is something most of us shamefully avoid, is a great reminder.