Whiplash: A Great Example of How Good Cinema Can Be Made From Anything. Even a Drum Set

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2015)

+ JK Simmons: What a brilliant performance from him. He plays the ever-threatening Fletcher with the ease of an actor who has owned the character and made it his own.
+ Miles Teller: While there are no words to describe his amazing performance behind the drums, he has also managed to break his mould as a sidekick in sci-fi movies otherwise.
Whiplash will forever be remembered for being a film that has built so much around the humble drum set. Miles Teller plays Andrew, a teen enrolled as a drummer in a prestigious school called The Shaffer Convservatory of Music. He encounters Terrence Fletcher (JK Simmons) who is a teacher at the conservatory with a brutal and abusive teaching style. Things start looking up for Andrew when he gets picked up by Fletcher to play for the school band with the exception that he has to deal with the ruthlessness of Fletcher's teaching methods.
Whiplash is intense. The sheer chemistry between Teller and Simmons is something that takes the film experience to a whole new level.
The last drum solo is a scene that is much talked and for obvious reasons. Sellers delivers a stellar performance. The transformation of Simmons during that scene is also something to watch out for. There is also a difference of opinion going around the same last scene. People who are criticizing the scene for being vague and confusing need to understand the emotional aspect of the two characters in it.
JK Simmons delivers his career best. His on screen presence is something that is rarely seen in cinema these days. Miles Teller surprises everybody with his unassuming personality which goes haywire when pushed to the limits.
Whiplash makes one believe that good cinema can be made from anything, even a drummer and his drum set.