Whiplash Review (Archive)

that I've just given the entire picture away. All that is to say, though, that Whiplash, which is written and directed by Damian Chizzell, is a pretty dark film. In his quest to become one of the great jazz drummers of all time, Teller's Andrew alienates family, snuffs out abursioning romance, and spill a whole lot of blood. I didn't realize that drumming could involve this much blood. Actually. Meanwhile, JK.

Simmons Fletcher, an abusively intense teacher at the elite music school Andrew attends, is on hand to push Andrew even further than that. Their goal is nothing short of perfection, and considering the potential, the value, and the cost of perfection, is largely what Whiplash is all about. One thing I've learned about you, Adam since joining the show is that you have a perfectionist streak. Would you say that's fair? That's fair, And to be fair, I can relate a

bit of the pot calling the kettle black here. Still, I wonder what it was like for you to watch this striving for musical perfection. Did you find Whiplash affirming of such tendencies or cautionary about them? Perhaps it was something in between. And is the movie itself, which is a bold incorporation of the musical aesthetic in visual form, anywhere close to artistic perfection great stuff?

the aspects of Whiplash I appreciate the most. It absolutely is both affirming of such striving and cautionary about it, which is really the only honest position to take. I think it would have been so easy for Chizell to show the personal cost of Andrew's ambition physically, psychologically, socially, and have him renounce that by the end of the film and be in a much healthier place, maybe be the kid again who could actually play the drums just

for fun. But Chizelle maybe because this is a personal film for him. What little I've read, he was a former jazz protege himself and now he's an artist of or making movies. He knows how disingenuous that would have been. He knows how crucial that drive is in any artistic endeavor. Dangerous, yes, but necessary. And by the end of this film it's a neat little trick Gizelle has pulled off. He gets

to have it both ways. It's crowd pleasing and inspirational, but also really problematic and disturbing to really think about it from the main character's point of view. So there's this element of cliche to this film in terms of hitting some notes that we want a film like this to hit in terms of being uplifting. And then you sort of find yourself after you've risen out of your seat and find yourself cheering sitting back down and thinking what am I excited about? What am I really cheering for?

It is dark in that way, and I respect quite a bit that little trick that Gizelle's pulled off.

But then it opens up to consider without ever really condoning the methods that the Simmons character uses, but to make us really ask is there something that's worth all of this that the kid has gone through? And maybe perfection We don't want to get too derailed by that as a topic, right, Maybe it's just to be your best or to truly achieve something, it's going to take some sort of sacrificing, some sort of suffering, And then

you ask yourself, Okay, is that worth it? Or would I be better off having other elements of my life be healthier and richer. But I never attained that maybe

one moment, and we get that moment. This was a movie that very much worked for me personally as a viewer along the same trajectory as Frank the Michael Fassbender film with him in the paper mache head mask leading a band, and both pictures I was enjoying quite a bit all the way through wasn't crazy about, and both of them culminates in a performance that ties everything together, brings it all together in this climactic scene, and also

leaves you still questioning. I think, so this doesn't wrap things up neatly, but I can totally see how an audience would go out of this picture thinking, oh wow, how inspiring that was. But really, the teller character Andrew, he doesn't have any clear idea of how he should live his life as a jazz artist. Where this film ends. Then maybe he did a few scenes earlier, and that's what I liked about it.

that explanation out of the context of the movie. You're just meeting this instructor on the street and hearing his teaching philosophy. I'm curious how many people would listen and, without hesitation, dismiss him and say, I would never want to be taught by that man. I couldn't undergo that type of process. I don't even want to spend any time with him, much less be instructed by him. How many people would listen and think, Okay, I get it. It sounds rough, but I get it. It could all

be worth it. Sign me up. Now, take those people, the people that said sign me up. Have them watch the movie, hear his philosophy. Where this scene appears within the context of the movie. You've seen his behavior, you see how far he goes, you see all the damage he's caused. How many of those people would still say sign me up? And how many of them would switch their answer to no way. I certainly wasn't unequivocally enthusiastically on board, but Josh I was still on board. That's

how messed up I am. That's how much I buy into this notion of artistic great And it's not perfection, as you said, because I don't think it's attainable in arts anyway. This isn't math or science. There's no formula, there's no hard answer, there's no hard right answers. But in the striving for a form of perfection, maybe you achieve something close, maybe you achieve something transcendent, and in that way, maybe it is.

words in English language are good good job. And doesn't that tie into this culture now of every kid's team gets a trophy. Right, every kid comes home, whether you're in last place or first place, with a ribbon or something. And that's the idea behind it, is that we're all just here to learn. Now at different contexts. Of course,

that happens with little kids. Here is well, you know, a young adult college age and maybe making that transition between Okay, you're bad, get out of my classroom, I'm bringing another guy in and at some point you do have to have that restriction for the art to breathe, and so you see where he's coming from, and the movie shifts your perspective. Another interesting question to ask along the lines of yours would be what shifts did you

make during this film? Like where were you agreeing with Simmons? Where did you just want to like get him fired? Yeah, And I think it's a real emotional trajectory that this.

not memorable in any way. That's another question. I think a lot of people listening probably have asked themselves at some point, and that reaching for greatness. I said this movie was one of my most anticipated movies of the year because that's something I am always drawn to. Those kinds of stories is something that has always fascinated me. For whatever reason. It came up a lot recently in

connection with my top five movie Tattoos. Remember, I was paying tribute to know Man on Wire, Felipe Patv pulling off this unbelievable feat and all that jazz, Joe Giddy, and a character pursuing this perfection and always failing. It also connects Josh with something else I'm always preoccupied with. It comes up a lot here on the show, which is purpose. One of the reasons I think this type of ambition is so attractive, even though it's so obviously

potentially harmful, is that it's simplifies everything. Sure, if your entire focus is this goal, whatever that goal is, then virtually every decision you have to make has already been made for you, or is at least much easier to decide. There's another great scene in Whiplash that gets directly at this, in both dialogue and also how it shot, which I know we want to talk about a little bit. Andrew takes this girl he's interested in. He asked her out

at the movie theater. She's selling popcorn nicole out for pizza, and she reveals that she really doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. There's no real reason why she decided to go to school at Fordham, it was just there. She doesn't know what her major is yet she's still searching. It's this very kind of vulnerable moment and Andrew's reaction. He's a nice enough kid, at

least at this point in the film. His reaction to that isn't mean or hurtful, but his questions are just pointed enough that it's quite clear to her and to us that he just cannot fathom being so directionless, so lacking and drive, so lacking in purpose. And she certainly senses it, and the exchange ends awkwardly. But the reason we sense it, Josh, It isn't just the words, it's

because of the editing here in this sequence. It's been up to this point in the conversation a pretty standard shot reverse shot conversation, and then he asks that first leading question and she recognizes the subtext, and the pace of the editing quickens. The editor here is Tom Cross.

It quickens just for that back and forth, a little bit of if you've seen the movie Double Time Swing, if you will, and it just completely heightens the intensity of that scene and draws our focus into what's really going on in the back of his mind, which we can sense a little bit based on his personality, but it's really there because of the way that scene is captured and the way it plays out rhythmically.

is that polar opposite. She doesn't, as you said, doesn't know what she wants to do, and positions that as a worthy to live your life, to explore and not have everything laid out in front of you and go after it with this driving force. So I like that

she has that role in the film. And you're right about the editing so crucial to talk about in this picture because we get so many insert shots I noticed that are not only there to convey information, but the pacing at which they come are like accent beats and a piece of music, and we get them where you'd expect.

When Andrew joins this elite group and we first see them warming up, so we get the moistening of the reads, the tuning of the drum keys, all in these quick answers procedure very much, very much, But we also get these accent beats in other scenes where you wouldn't expect them. That date scene between the two of them will get a quick one under the table of her foot inching toward his, or even the scene where he goes to the movies with his father, we just get an insert

shot of popcorn. And all that does is give us this sense of fluidity and movement, so that this is a movie that's always on the move, and that kind of incorporates this idea of jazz style as well. And I do like how Chazelle and the editor Tom Cross incorporate that into the film.

the movie overall. Yet I did feel like the esthetic approach that Chazelle was taking throughout the movie by trying to match his visuals with the music, almost went a little overboard there. I mean, we get tracking shots, swish pans, wide screen shots of the auditorium. This is a performance, we can say it's taking place, said a jazz competition, I believe, And it was almost even for jazz. It was almost too much for me.

late on a Sunday night, there was no one else in the row with me, because I wasn't just tapping my foot. I was, I was music leg I mean yeah, I mean I was. I was really into it. So honestly I might have been so hypnotized by the music, yeah, and the playing that even though I was aware of some of the pyrotechnics of the camera, it certainly didn't draw me out of it. If anything, it drew me in. That's how caught up in the end of this film.

I was, even as I said, I caught myself also thinking about kind of the ramifications of the end of the film I love too, Josh, that I honestly didn't see it coming.

major faults, he had you one over instantaneously. He sort of drains himself of that here and it's maybe not as ingratiating of afformance, but it's a perfect fit for the part and for the movie and for this story that's being told. And again I was encouraged that he's not concerned with playing somebody who's likable necessarily. He was more than willing to go that direction. And you see it in that scene, that date scene again, because The Spectacular Now is a teenage romance in some levels, so

it's almost like it could have gone that way. And he really puts the emphasis on the drive that Andrew has and his willingness, especially in the second date scene, to just jettison what he at least thinks might hold him back.

than maybe any of the acting. I don't know whether we should give an actor extra credit for that, but maybe we should give Miles Teller some extra credit Josh for the drumming, because lots of people can sing pretty darn well. Not very many people, relatively speaking, on this planet can play the drums or even fake playing the drums at this level. And without that ability, and of course he got some lessons, he had some background in it, but he did go through a boot camp that paid

off really well. Without his ability and the commitment he shows, this whole movie falls apart. I said that when we were looking ahead to this movie, you can't fake jazz drumming at this level, and the movie doesn't. I'm sure there are a few tricks at times where it cuts to some of those close ups. Maybe he's not playing entirely, but there are plenty of scenes where it's entirely clear, there's no way around it that Miles Teller is playing the drums.

comments about that movie. He has to convince us that he is one of the most popular kids in school, despite the fact that he's not one of the best looking kids probably in school. He's certainly not one of the most well dressed kids in school, and he's certainly not one of the richest. And those are kind of the three general attributes that can help propel you to winning over any group, especially in high school. He doesn't

have any of that. It's just his sheer persona. And I've talked about this a lot, but a movie like Footloose, he's playing that Chris Penn Willard performance. I didn't like that Craig Brewer reymake at all. But the one thing I did enjoy watching in that film was the charisma of Miles Teller. Andrew, as you said, has none of that charisma. He is in some ways a blank slate beyond this drive.

point earlier in the film where he's pretty likable. Of course, as he gets more driven, he becomes more and more unlikable, downright rude, And that does get back to what I thought was a really interesting point that I singled out from Alex ross Perry last week talking about Listen Up, Philip. This movie proves that it's not a genre film per se, like an action movie, though maybe it is if the genre is kind of the inspirational, mentor protege movie in

some ways. And we've talked about how this movie contradicts some of those cliches. But we forgive narcissistic characters when we want to see them succeed when they have a clear objective, something they're pursuing, and Andrew does so even when he's unlikable. We really feel for him.

be doing it outside of the character. And maybe the best way to describe that is a lot of the stuff that he insults his students with is funny in a way. Cruelly funny, sure, but he never seems to take pleasure in the laugh. So Simmons doesn't pause and let that moment take over the scene because he's still angry that that kid screwed up. And that's what you see. So I really think you could call this one of

those big oscar bating performances. It will get a lot of attention because it's so loud, but I think it's very subtle too. I mean, think about the scene early on where he takes Andrew's side in the hall and asks him just some personal questions, talks to him in a lie a tone, and you think, oh, you know, you still think he's probably jerking him around, right, because we've seen enough now this can't really be him, but you're wondering maybe, well, maybe he's.

coworker's younger daughter in a nicer voice. But really, this movie is not too concerned with giving Fletcher this other nicer side. They're committed to his awfulness, and so is Simmons.

humanity comes out in him. We do learn a little bit later some information that undercuts the humanity that's saying all that, Yeah, but the performance is absolutely genuine and there seems to be real emotion under there, And I think that's what's so fascinating is even in the moment and then even thinking about it later, you can't help but think that this emotional scene that he has in front of his band, where he seems to let his guard down. He's different than he's been at any other

point in the film. You can't help but completely believe it, but then find yourself also saying, but he's probably doing it just because he's been writing them so hard. He's using something that's real, but he is going to exploit it, Yeah, for his own good, and that good is that he

can only brate them so much. There has to be that one little break where he shows that to him even if he doesn't really want to let them in, he has to show them that so they believe that he really cares about them, that all he's doing is for them. He's hurting them, but it's for their own good. They need moments like that that he gives them there, and that that complexity the J. K. Simmons is playing there in that scene is really something.

to play as perfectly as they can. And there's something relatable, especially if you have perfectionist streak within you, there's something relatable to that, and so there's a separation between his tactics and his goal.

into the room, I burst out laughing. Actually, I mean in a very good way. He is such a force. He has such little regard for anyone else around him that when he walks into this room, it's like a hurricane comes in the room. Everybody stops. It's super loud, even the instructor. The other instructor kowtows too. Yeah, and it just becomes his class. And I love that moment. I did think about a lot. You mentioned Full Metal Jacket.

That's here Black Swan. Of course this movie really mirrors closely as well, and the one key difference being in the mentor protege relationship between Toma and the Nina character in Black Swan. And what we get here is there's that sexual element psychologically that really rereaks Havoc and black Swan.

We don't get that here, But beyond that, there's also some more subtlety to a character like Toma and black Swan, because he does have to sort of play a psychological game and insinuate himself to get her to do what he wants her to ultimately do, and we don't ever see that. It's not about jesting the right way to do something or get at it through your own devices. He's going to compel you to do it the way he wants.

not to observe, but to find a new player. He comes in, he points him to exactly the bars he wants to go to that scene where he looks at the score and ises it for about three seconds and then says, cute. You know, he got out of it exactly what he needed to get out of it, and now he's going to have this transaction. And even what he wears black the same thing every day. Yes, it's kind of artsy, but is also simple. He's not going to waste any time picking out his outfit. There's nothing

wasted in his box as well. He's a very lean, muscular figure here. There's no extra hair, there's nothing he has to think about to take care of himself except music and driving this band and achieving that level of perfection if he can.

early access to events, discounts a lot more. Check it out film spotting family dot com. Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Good Bye.