Whiplash (2015) [Blu-ray]
Drama | Music

A promising young drummer enrolls at a cutthroat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.

Storyline: A young and talented drummer attending a prestigious music academy finds himself under the wing of the most respected professor at the school, one who does not hold back on abuse towards his students. The two form an odd relationship as the student tries to achieve greatness, and the professor tries to stop him.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, February 19, 2015 -- Many students -- particularly when speaking of their educational experiences in hindsight -- will claim that their most challenging, demanding, and sometimes even harsh professors were their best. Often disliked by most of the students who, then, couldn't see the value in the vitriol, these instructors prove their worth not in the moment but in the prism of time. They know that their goal isn't to simply flood the mind with information or even drill it in with repetition but rather to prepare the mind for the world -- forcefully if necessary -- and to exercise it in such a way that it's always open and ever capable of adjusting to the most challenging of circumstances, not simply coddled in a vacuum that's nothing like the challenges that wait for students outside of the school grounds. Much like the best physical trainers push their clients beyond limits, so too do the best teachers work their students to a point of failure that doesn't weaken the person but instead makes him or her stronger for the next challenge. That's why sports coaches work the team harder in practice and why Army drill instructors are so famously forceful in preparing their soldiers for war. Simply teaching them to run a play, fire a weapon, or understand the importance of precise instruction and discipline does them no good in a real world, quite possibly life-or-death scenario when it's instead experience, reflex, understanding, and courage that may win the day, not hand-holding and participation awards. But is there a line that separates hard-knock lessons from emotional and physical torture? And is there a line a student must not cross that separates an eagerness to learn at any price from a very tangible pain and hardship that no longer leads to knowledge and success but instead emotional destruction? Those are the conflicting ideas explored in Whiplash, an extraordinary film from Writer/Director Damien Chazelle that pits an eager student, willing to go the distance and well beyond, against an instructor who expects even more than the student in question is willing to give.

Andrew (Miles Teller) is a first-year student at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory of Music, a school for the most gifted musicians in the country. He aspires to become a legend in the world of Jazz drumming, and that means learning under the notorious Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a teacher who either gets results by separating the wheat from the chaff by any means necessary, pushing his students to their limits, and then some, or weeding out the weaklings that cannot hack it in the demanding world of top-tier music. Andrew's relationship with Fletcher is, at first, a challenge, but just when it seems like he's gained the teacher's confidence and trust, Fletcher ruthlessly attacks young Andrew, harsher and more frequently than any student in recent memory, as far back as another gifted musician the instructor drove to suicide. Andrew must choose to stay the course, focus entirely on his music, and lose everything else in life or step back and let his dream slip through his fingers as quickly as the insults and belittling criticisms flow out of Fletcher's mouth.

In the simplest terms possible, Whiplash is like Full Metal Jacket for the music world. J.K. Simmons plays the part of R. Lee Ermey. Opposite him is Miles Teller, who isn't exactly Private Pyle or Private Joker but instead a ruthless version of Rudy Ruettiger. But the movie is much more complicated than that, of course. It's a finely-tuned ballet of unbreakable determination meets unrelenting vitriol that depicts a student determined to succeed at all costs -- he literally bleeds for his dream -- against an instructor who chews him up and spits him out, uncaring, it seems, for the person he's wounding in the process and, often, to the detriment of the musicians who surround him. But the film's core component lies in one question: what pushes them so far and so hard? What drives them to give and take to such an extreme that challenging, exacting instruction and demanding, unwavering performance collide like the proverbial unstoppable force and immovable object? Is theirs a chance meeting of unbreakable wills or is there some sort of cosmic orchestration that brings them together in such a way that will either validate their methods or destroy them both? The movie proves a fascinating examination of both the human condition and the human spirit pushed beyond their limits.

Certainly, Whiplash is the story of two individuals, highly driven and motivated, and their outward back-and-forth plays central to the story as Fletcher pushes Andrew to his limits and beyond. But perhaps the more interesting story is a psychological one that challenges the audience to look past the tight, cohesive, even disturbing drama and look for a much deeper set of wounds on the inside. The movie is fundamentally about finding the appropriate inner tempo, not a quest to playing perfect musical tempo in the physical world. Andrew is pushed internally by himself and externally by his teacher and, in turn, then, even further by himself, to the point that his music absorbs him to an unhealthy level, bringing him not only to bleed but to a state of mind and a degradation of spirit that overwhelms and consumes his life rather than enriches it. The movie plays as almost a warning sign that points to the dangers of "too much" of anything, an idea that hangs over it from start to finish, from the first time Andrew meets Fletcher to the fascinating finale that is itself uneasy in progression, richly complex in delivery, and fundamentally satisfying in tone, essentially, then, a microcosm of the entire movie in the final ten or so minutes. Yet no matter how it resolves, the movie does engender the question of whether it itself pushes too far, elevating beyond a classic "challenging" movie and becoming almost revolting in how far it carries its characters. On one hand, one cannot help but admire the determination on one side and the unyielding demand for perfection on the other, but as lives are destroyed and passion becomes obsession which becomes an unhealthy singular focus that simultaneously destroys from the inside out and from the outside in, the movie comes dangerously close to distancing itself from the audience rather than fully absorbing it into a complex and harshly resolved tale of great excesses.

Indeed, the movie treads dangerously close to going too far, but it never does. Whiplash pushes the audience to a breaking point but never the whole way beyond, leaving viewers in a state of emotional upheaval through most all of it but at the end more in a state of awe considering how fundamentally pure the movie proves itself in terms of pitch-perfect construction and delivery of some of the most challenging material ever to appear on the screen. Damien Chazelle's script is mesmerizingly rich and detailed, and his direction is fully absorbing, both finding intricate, nuanced details that elevate not only the drama but the performances that make the movie work. Miles Teller is terrific as Andrew, finding an inner obsession and evolving from a state of unflinching determination to multiple breaking points and beyond in a performance that's not only physically challenging but emotionally wrecking through the entirety, from the conflicted emotions of his first run-in with Fletcher all the way through to their final meeting. Yet the film benefits most from an absolutely dominating performance from J.K. Simmons who shapes a deep, mysterious, almost wounded character in the instructor who is so complex that even right to the very end one cannot tell if his methods are mad or whether there's some almost evil genius to the way he goes about his business, the way he pushes, and pushes, and pushes some more with seemingly no care for the individual on any level. Does he break with the intention to bring back his student stronger than before, or is he simply a man whose past has somehow brought him to a point of no return where his only satisfaction comes not from molding the next great musician but identifying the top talent and breaking the person to ensure he or she fails to meet their potential? Whatever the case may be -- wherever the movie and actor does or does not take the character -- Simmons absolutely makes the movie and embodies the film's dual strengths as an outwardly intense drama and an inwardly fascinating exploration of the human condition.

Whiplash is a beautifully complex movie that might admittedly scare some away considering both what appears to be a fairly trite, routine story of a student-teacher relationship and an examination of an unhealthy obsession and an unhealthy teaching tool. But the movie absolutely shines as a dark and wonderfully complex examination of the human condition, punctuated by two of the most outstanding performances of the year, including an Oscar-nominated effort from J.K. Simmons who deserves to walk away with the award. Sony's Blu-ray release of Whiplash is outstanding. High quality picture, amazing sound, and a nice compliment of extras make this one of the best of the young 2015 release schedule and practically a shoo-in for a spot on the end-of-year top ten list. Whiplash earns my highest recommendation.

[CSW] -4.1- This is tightly written, emotionally charged and scary good at every single turn. As stated above it comes dangerously close to going too far, but it never does. To say more about this movie would be to take away from the experience because the movie itself is an experience.
[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box motion codes were available at the time of this rental although they are available now.


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