Pushed To The Limit

There are two things that I understand in this world:  movies and music.  With Whiplash, a movie ABOUT music, somehow I knew I was going to love it.  If I was stranded on an island with a television, a BLURAY player and five movies to choose from, Whiplash would be one of those movies.

Whiplash is the story of a young drummer who has his ambitions tested by a cutthroat instructor.  This is one of those movies that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.  The world of music has its own language, and I feel like musicians might enjoy this movie more than the general audience because of that language.  Nevertheless, this movie tells a great story about what happens when ambition turns into obsession.  This movie really hit home for me even though it is about a different profession than mine.  Andrew Neyman wants to be one of the greatest jazz drummers who ever lived.  In fact, he wants it so badly that he sacrifices personal relationships because he feels they will keep him from doing that.  I have always wanted to make movies that matter.  I want to inspire people the way I was inspired by so many filmmakers.  However, sometimes I wonder if I am paying as much attention to my personal life as I am to my professional life.  Even though I am still just a film student, there have been many times when I come home and dinner is waiting in the oven and my fiancé is asleep in bed.  She tells me every day that she knew what she was getting into.  Still, I cannot help but wonder if I am doing a good job balancing both my life and career.  I hope I am.

Miles Teller plays Andrew Neyman.  Neyman is a boy who truly comes alive when he is playing the drums.  His strive to achieve perfection is almost bursting from inside.  Miles Teller is great at playing this character because he does so much by doing so little.  When Andrew is not playing in the band, you can tell he is uncomfortable just by the physical movements Miles Teller does as an actor.  It really is a great performance by one of the hottest rising young actors today.

I have been a fan of J.K. Simmons for many, many years.  He is a great chameleon actor, slipping into any role with the greatest of ease.  I was so happy to see him win the Oscar for this movie.  In Whiplash, he plays music instructor Terence Fletcher.  Fletcher is a man who has no tolerance for slacking off, as he spews humiliating insults at his band members left and right.  There are scenes where Fletcher is getting to know Andrew a bit more, but then you find out that the only reason Fletcher did so was so that he could make the insults that much more personal.

Damien Chazelle is the director of Whiplash.  This movie feels like a horror movie the way the camera and the lighting are used, which reflects how terrifying Fletcher is.  When Andrew is playing the drums, I love the way the camera cuts to the different sections of the drum set.  This movie also has a great ending which, as a music lover, made me geek out hard over.

If I could listen to J.K. Simmons insult people for the rest of my life I would do so, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.  Whiplash is one of those rare films that has almost no flaws, if any.  If you love music, movies or both, you will love this movie.