WHIPLASH

Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist
Writer: Damien Chazelle
Director: Damien Chazelle

A movie about a drummer in a jazz band would probably not set the hearts of many people racing in normal circumstances but Whiplash comes to us with a fair amount of publicity about just how good it is and, with the very recent Oscar buzz surrounding it, surely it's a must-see for the discerning filmgoer. But is it? Read on to find out...

Andrew Neiman (Teller) is a talented young drummer enrolled at the ultra-competitive Shaffer Conservatory of Music. He's steeped in the world of jazz and wants to be one of the greats, listening to Buddy Rich for inspiration, poring over his musical "charts" for hours on end and ignoring the pill-popping, partying antics of the others in his dormitory. In order to reach those heights he must first prove himself worthy of playing in the Studio Band, and for that to happen he must impress its formidable conductor, Terence Fletcher (Simmons). Fletcher himself is looking for the next great jazz musician; could Neiman be the one? The ambitious student will be pushed to the limit in search of an answer to that question.

Damien Chazelle's film works superbly well on a number of levels. Similar to last week's release Foxcatcher, it's an exploration of how far you're willing to go to be the best and it investigates the dynamic between mentor and student. In addition, Chazelle asks questions about when good musicians become truly great ones and focuses on the borderline insane levels of practice needed to even get anywhere close to that level. It's also a father/son story, Neiman's dad (Paul Reiser in a role that's a long way from the shifty Carter Burke in Aliens) being an once-aspiring writer who never got a book deal and who wants his son to see that succeeding in life doesn't necessarily have to mean being the best drummer that ever walked the Earth. There are other things in life like family and romance, but who needs those if you're a famous musician?

Obviously you can't go very far in reviewing this film without mentioning the performance of J.K. Simmons and he's truly mesmerising whenever he's on screen. It would have been easy to turn the character of Fletcher into some sort of pantomime villain but Simmons makes the part all too real, simultaneously hilarious and frightening as he lays into his under-performing charges with some of the most blistering dialogue you'll have heard in quite a while. It's raw, it's often offensive and yet it totally fits with his tyrannical character. 

With such a bravura display of acting from Simmons it would be understandable if Miles Teller faded into the background somewhat but he more than holds his own here which makes the whole movie such an intriguing clash between the two of them. Neiman himself isn't exactly likeable either but both he and Fletcher are so fascinating that you're swept along as the twists and turns are piled on and the film is charged with as much nail-biting tension as any thriller.

There were a couple of points where I felt that the plot strained credulity but given the rest of the film was so magnificent I was willing to forgive its odd flight of fancy. The music is, it goes without saying, absolutely tremendous and the sheer exertion demonstrated in the stunningly shot drumming sequences left me both exhausted and exhilarated. Don't worry about the occasional bum note, by the end of this you'll be shouting for an encore. And that's quite enough musical metaphors for this review.

I'd be very surprised if this one isn't in my Top Ten movies come the end of 2015.