Delusional director is the real "star" of this film

Rating: 4/10 (21 November 2018)

Writer and director Damien Chazelle says he based "Whiplash" on his real life experience. He struggled to become a jazz drummer while at Princeton (NJ) High School in the early 2000s. And, he had an intimidating teacher upon whom he based the character of Terence Fletcher in this film.
But, his own awareness about his talent was different than that of his lead character in the film. Miles Teller plays Andrew who has a sense of his exceptional natural talent, which Chazelle says he did not have himself. Thus, the writer-director changed his pursuit to filmmaking. This is something to ponder in view of Andrew's outcome in the film, and the suicide of an earlier "star" student of Fletcher in the movie.
Near the film's end, Fletcher says that he pushed those students he thought could be great. So, to him, that justifies his erratic, violent, and abusive behavior. Still, he knows he was fired for his behavior. The film doesn't probe that any further and just leaves it at that.
Yet, everything the audience sees and learns about Fletcher says that he is delusional. He's living a lie. The one person whom he claims achieved greatness committed suicide. And, Fletcher lied about that, saying the former student had been killed in a car accident. His treatment wasn't just erratic with those he may have thought were special. He behaved crudely and angrily with everyone - all of the students in his band. The film clearly shows that everyone feared him.
So, the conclusion that he was just pushing to bring out the greatness of a master musician doesn't ring true. His latest great talent, Andrew, gave up and quit playing the drums. As the counselor properly advised Andrew and his father, Fletcher was a harmful person who should not be teaching. Indeed, in what public or private school in America would such a bizarre character have been tolerated for so long?
One suspects that Chazelle exaggerated the character some - if not a lot. And that's okay for writers and producers who want to have a dramatic effect and make a big splash. Would this movie have received half the attention it has if Fletcher had been anything near a normal person? I suspect many in the audience might have been bored, and most wouldn't even have weighed in by rating the film.
Chazelle's Fletcher commands every moment he's on the screen. All one sees in the members of the band is fear. They don't even look up at him - their faces mostly to the ground, their eyes on the music. Beyond that, there isn't much depth of this story. There are many musical rehearsals and stops, and fits of rage with vulgar and abusive outbursts. These are punctuated at times by some short calm scenes of Andrew with his dad or with his girlfriend, Nicole.
If anything, "Whiplash" seems to cater to the modern phenomena of movie mayhem - constant action, lots of violence, lots of noise and spectacle. Oh, yes, and real crudity. As with so many others, this film has little acting and not much of a story.
Did J.K. Simmons deserve the Oscar for best supporting actor? He played the crude, angry, unbalanced tyrant of a teacher very well. How much talent does it take for anyone to vent and spew anger and vitriol? Then, again, there wasn't much competition among actors and roles nominated for 2014. But Simmons and his role as Fletcher surely hold the Oscar record for use of the most foul language, and number of expletives. Apparently, there were about 150 uses of crass language and swearing, and Simmons's Fletcher spewed at least 90 percent of them.
And that reflects as well on the writing. The movie didn't win an Oscar for best screenplay or adaption, but it's a sad state of entertainment and Hollywood that it was even nominated. There's very little entertainment in this film, but it is an expose of a mentally disturbed tyrannical teacher and how he affects his students. "Whiplash" was more of a film about that character than about the star pupil, Andrew.
An early scene has a poignant clue of what might lie ahead in the movie. A sign in large letters is posted on a band room wall. It reads, "If you don't have ability, you wind up playing in a rock band."