Whiplash : "The pace is too fast, you just won't last " !

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2014)

Whiplash deserves all the good critics it received. How not to be carried away by the preposterous and unreasonable pace of Andrew's drum sticks, a young drummer of the Shaffer Conservatory, obsessed with the recognition of his talent ? The film's dynamism itself is designed as a hysterical sequence of notes; but the ensemble of notes is formed by a set of shades of the same notes, making the film panting, almost suffocating, and administering a dose of unsustainable adrenaline. Yet this is exactly what happens to Andrew in his relationship to Fletcher, prestigious professor at the Conservatory.
What is emerging is a constant struggle between these two entities: on one side, Andrew, tested, and on the other, Fletcher. The film takes its full extent in the many narrative and emotional breakdowns, because each rhythm set by the instrument immediately becomes a visual rhythm that almost forces the viewer into the torments of its characters. However, in the reflection of Andrew, what drives him, contrary to what we might think, is the break in the rhythm and in relationships. What drives him to play more intensely, until he even bleeds, is a break in the game between him and Fletcher, who encourages him for a while, then suddenly and sadistically discourages him. J.K Simmons plays the conductor, in that he carefully organizes these ruptures that eventually form the film's tempo and the determination of the unresolved Andrew to be unique.
Whiplash, tinged with a black humor partition and intense sequences, conducted by the stunning performances of Miles Teller & Simmons, clearly stands out in the Oscars race being already rewarded many times at the tempo of one instrument, almost too proud of itself, paradoxically exhausted by its inordinate ambition, as it demonstrates extreme measure.