This is why I quit band

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2015)

If you ever thought you had a mean and abrasive teacher, please allow Whiplash to make that teacher look like Mother Teresa. You don't know angry instructor until you've seen J.K. Simmons furiously shout his head off as Terrence Fletcher, the biggest hard ass of a band teacher to ever grace cinema screens. He's a teacher whose methods include spewing a creatively brutal string of insults with the intention of pushing a student to their full potential. You'll never hear him say the words "good job" because they are, "the two most dangerous words you can ever say to a musician."
Whiplash is a movie carried by its two main characters, Miles Teller as Andrew Nieman, a college aged drummer, and his teacher, Fletcher, played by Simmons. Nieman wants to be the best, and Fletcher is determined to get him there, no matter how many times he has to spit the f-word at his face, or how many chairs he has to throw at his head. The film is no more than a character piece between the two forces, but it is a compelling, intense, and in-your-face piece that defines the student-teacher relationship when it comes to music.
My band experience in high school was very short lived, but I have heard enough stories from band geek friends to affirm that the intensity of Simmon's character isn't too far-fetched. I have a feeling that Whiplash is a film that will resonate with any musician whose gone through professional training, and will strike a chord with any instructor whose mean shouty ways have always been misunderstood as sheer assholery. Sometimes it takes an asshole to make a maestro, and this is the feeling that you walk away from Whiplash with.
This is a movie that takes a big risk, as it relies solely on the performances of its two leads to make this film compelling in any way. Luckily its got a great script delivered by a competent Miles Teller and a wildly entertaining and nerve wracking to watch J.K. Simmons. The scenes where Simmons attempts to keep Teller from dragging or rushing make my anxiety flare up and it makes me so glad I ditched band in high school and left it to the safety of film to make me understand the fury an instructor is truly capable of.
When it comes to writing, Whiplash is excellent. When it comes to performances, it's impeccable. When it comes to pacing, it's jumpy and rocky at points, but when it comes to overall quality Whiplash tells an excellent and believable story. It's not something I'd watch again, but definitely something I'd recommend.