more than the sum of its parts

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2015)

This movie works so well in that it does what a good film should. It provokes thought and discussion.
I went to watch this with my wife at the cinema and then out for a meal. After a decade of marriage and three kids, date night sometimes becomes a chat about jobs, money and the children. After watching this film we were both so intrigued that we chatted about it for an hour and that chat morphed into a chat about existence and triggers and passion in life.
I don't want to give too much away but there is a conversation near the end that meant we both interpreted the ending in different ways and that is where our conversation began. And it didn't stop, the more we talked the more we got into different themes raised by the film.
Now, it may read as if I'm thanking this movie for giving me something to chat to the wife about; that is not really the case. What I wanted to say is that this is a wonderful film because our conversation was not "what was good and bad in the film?" it was "what did it mean to you?".
Great art should provoke thought and conversation between it's viewers. Whiplash does just that. It takes a simple story and lays it out in equally simple terms, but the narrative runs a lot deeper so does the subsequent deconstruction.