Teller & Simmons give Oscar-worthy performances in this blood, sweat and tears exercise into the passion of music

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2014)

WHIPLASH (2014) ***1/2 Miles Teller, JK Simmons, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang, Chris Mulkey. Teller gives an amazing performance as a steadfast talented drummer who enrolled in a fiercely competitive music conservatory in New York City faces not only his inner will to be the best but his most unlikely mentor, his taskmaster instructor (Simmons at his career best), a sadistical no-nonsense fascist who drives fear as a wedge between achieving his goal as well as instilling a darker side he never knew existed. Written and directed by Damien Chazelle in a stunning debut spares no one from the at-times hard to watch brow-beating, haranguing and general unease put upon Teller by Simmons (all three deserve Oscar nods) proving that blood, sweat and tears into something you love (and crave) just may be your downward spiral nightmare instead of a dream fulfilled.