558th Review - And all that jazz

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2015)

Whiplash is a tour de force of a film that hits you hard in stomach from the get go and keeps going. With career defining performances from J K Simmons as a Svengali mentor and Miles Teller as an ambitious young drummer willing to go through hell to achieve greatness.
Director Damien Chazelle gives the film a near stage like look that suits it well, there are only three or four outdoor scenes, otherwise the claustrophobia created by focusing on the music practice room suits the piece well.
This is a film about suffering for ambition. A film about the need to be the best, to strive for fame, but also about two characters who are destined to clash. Simmons is pure vitriol, knowing exactly how to use his temper and words to break a player, and it is a fine performance - showing just the right level of loss of control with a cold logic.
Central to the film is the struggle jazz has to be seen. Given the immense work required to become a jazz great, jazz tends to be difficult on film compared to the glamor of rock. This is a film that likes it jazz straight up - and is better for it.
It is one of the better films of the year. It is a powerful film with great performances that it is about very human traits: the need for approval and the abuse of power and if liberation is ever possible. Recommended.