Whiplash Review

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2015)

Where to begin? I am an avid film lover and have been a musician for as long as I can remember. Though not helped by my early onset Alzheimers at the age of 21. I am just going to say it how it is. I saw this in the cinema and I couldn't talk for about 20 minutes after it had finished. I actually wept with how much I enjoyed this film. This film since I saw it became my favourite film of all time.
I have seen many people complain about how this film is unrealistic, and while it has never been pushed to physical abuse I have been emotionally abused in a similar way with a music teacher of mine and I have had a separate teacher that has been known to throw chairs at people so from those 2 experiences combined I can actually see this film as being realistic.
J.K. Simmons as of yesterday received a BAFTA for his role and I will be incredibly surprised if that is the last award he receives for this role. His angry bursts will initially have you laughing but as they become more and more intense will have you more and more fearful for the characters. Those of you that love J.K. Simmons as much as I have done over the years in Juno, Oz and the Spiderman trilogy will also finally be happy to see this man given the opportunity to be recognised to the great actor he is. Miles Teller was an actor I had not seen before and I think he played the part wonderfully changing between a character fearful of Fletcher to his arrogance and fluctuating between the 2 for the full movie. I think both actors need a special mention for the hours they put into their instruments running up to the film so, no, their playing on screen wasn't perfect, but you have to remember that they are actors who are meant to be playing as some of the best musicians in the world and Simmons and Teller can probably play their instruments a lot better than the best players in the world can act and gave a more than convincing enough performance.
The script is wonderfully powerful, exploring the different takes on Fletcher's theory of how to create such a great musician. But as well as Fletcher's horrific torturing of the characters you also see his soft side in 2 scenes in particular (seeing his friend's daughter and talking to her before the 1st show and when he plays the piece of his former student). both showing that he is a human and though his method was horrendous, his motive was to produce greatness. The story is also not your typical story because although some things do go well there is a nice balance in story telling where things do not go the way you expect which is the key to good story telling.
The camera work is fantastic, specially, in my opinion, in the last performance of the film. The soundtrack and sound editing are just perfect! This was the first film of Damien Chazelle that I have seen but from the fantastic work this man does with a pen and camera it will not be the last film of his I will see.
I would encourage anyone to see this film. I can't tell if I wouldn't enjoy it as much as a musician but it can't hurt.