Ba dumb bumb cheshhh!

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2017)

"Whiplash" tells the story of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a young drummer whose obsession is to become "one of the greatest" and who finds his match in Terence Fletcher, a conductor who put the "mentor" in "monster" and "monster" "in maestro" and will push Andrew to heights of unsuspected greatness and to the edge.
For lack of a sequel, we'll never know if Andrew became the best drummer of his generation, but there's one thing we do know: Damien Chazelle is Oscar-nominated for "La La Land". If he wins (and he certainly will), he'll be the youngest Oscar-winning director of Hollywood history. And there's more: "La La Land" earned 14 Oscar nominations tying the record of "Titanic" and "All About Eve", and it is very likely that the film will tie the all-time records of Oscar wins, if not break them. And Chazelle isn't even thirty, he doesn't even look thirty.
Only two years have passed between his directorial debut and the kind of wet dream for a vet director, let alone a "squeaker". So I'm not sure if I want to review "Whiplash", a fascinating coming-to-greatness story, or the story behind "Whisplash" which embodies the same nervously inspirational spirit. Actually, it is not a hazard that Chazelle made his bones through a movie about talent, ambition and discipline as he applied these vital life parameters to himself. How do I know that he's got talent? Is it subjective? I don't know. But there's an interesting moment that says all... when Fletcher visits Andrew's school band, looking for someone to pick.
I'll pass over the mockeries and derogatory comments to the untalented players, so you have Andrew as the second drummer and not even appreciated, Fletcher lets the first drummer play, then Andrew. They play like one second each, yet these seconds are enough for Fletcher to detect the real potential. It seems that Andrew's got the little sparkle just enough to be considered a page-turner in Fletcher's conservatory, but it will be a long road till he earns his part or not. Now, has Chazelle talent? Well, judging by whatever was displayed in this film in terms of acting, directing, writing, editing, and even sound mixing, I would say, hell yeah! The 'squeaker' earned his part as one of the most promising directors of his generation.
And "Whiplash" is a long road to greatness paved by the harrowing mind-wrestling between the fierce mentor and his ambitious disciple, and one of the most captivating love-and-hate relationships of recent years. And as painful or cringe worthy as it gets, we feel that harassment is the kind of "end-justifying-the-means" technique to go beyond expectations. Fletcher does have a point, and it's true that there's no good coming from casual complimenting. I myself remember a teacher who used to harass us in prep school, she could let me fill the blackboard for four uninterrupted hours and always commented the work we did by "could have been better" or "pathetic". One day, I managed to elicit a jaw-dropping "very good" and it was an extraordinary feeling. I wish sometimes I had someone harming me for the sake of my accomplishments.
But now, I'm projecting my own experience in "Whiplash", while the film goes deeper in the enigmatic personality of Terence Fletcher. He believes in Andrew's talent but he doesn't like him for all that. Fletcher is an antagonist and the paradox is that his antagonism improves Andrew's talent more than anything. JK Simmons, who owned the Supporting Actor category during the awards season, is an instant icon in this film, and the way he loudly asks Andrew if he's dragging or rushing was so intense I felt like he was shouting at me. Fletcher shows us the key to self-accomplishment: not rushing and not dragging, seizing the right timing, the right tempo to get to action and secondly, an indirect lesson: no one owes anything and the least you expect from others, the more you expect from you.
Andrew isn't perfect either, there's a moment where he breaks up with his new girlfriend, killing the relationship before it even started. He didn't want her to undermine his path as if he was convinced already he was going to be the greatest, embodying Muhammad Ali's classic "I was the greatest before I knew I was". But as admirable as his self-confidence is, the journey of Andrew doesn't go without a few 'accidents', some more deserved than others, and I wouldn't dare to spoil the third act which elevated the film from a fine Indie music to a fantastic duel of egos with drums and music and venomous rancor as weapons.
"Whiplash" is one duel after one, between rival drummers, Andrew and Fletcher, and ultimately Andrew and himself. He doesn't belong to a musical family, he has dreams, that alienated him from family and friends, but he knows if he was good enough to catch the ear of Fletcher, that might say a thing or two about his talent. Granted Fletcher isn't the nicest guy but nice guys aren't all talented or successful. So it all comes down to "Whiplash"'s third act; a satisfying jazz crescendo culminating with a super finale where everything is beating, your feet are tapping and for one moment you do believe that jazz is the finest musical expression of all time after classical music.
And maybe beyond ambition, talent and discipline, the reason why this awkward college boy-looking director made such a sensational impact, is because he knew about jazz, it was his passion. So maybe passion is the key. And he was so passionate that in order to get the money, he simply made a shorter version and submitted the film to Sundance, and the rest is history. Like a sort of "Rocky" with drums and its extraordinary ending, "Whiplash" is (simply said) the embodiment of its own success story.
Ba dumb bumb cheshhh!