A 19 year old drummer at a reputed conservatory grabs the eyeballs & ears of the institute’s astute, no-nonsense instructor. He finds his journey towards achieving greatness has been made thorny & obsessive by his fanatical instructor and splits shabbily jeopardizing both their careers. Later, an ego tussle makes them attempt scaling boundaries hitherto unexplored in the drummers’ circle.
Language:
English
Running Time:
107 min
Rating:
R
Release date:
20 February 2015
Directed by:
Damien Chazelle
Produced by:
Jason Blum
Helen Estabrook
Michel Litvak
David Lancaster
Written by:
Damien Chazelle
Starring:
Miles Teller
J. K. Simmons
Paul Reiser
Melissa Benoist
Austin Stowell
Chris Mulkey
Music by:
Justin Hurwitz
Shot by:
Sharone Meir
Editing by:
Tom Cross
Distributed by:
Sony Pictures Classics

What’s Hot

  • Whiplash is as much about life & greatness as it is about drums & jazz music. Damien Chazelle , the film’s director pays an ode not only to classic ol’ Jazz music but also to the greats from various fields making us think about the sacrifices & psychological risks they may have had to take to scale the pinnacles they did.
  • The up & coming Miles Teller gets a break with this film & as Andrew Neyman, the prodigal drummer, his efforts look very real and commendable but not even he can match the effervescence J.K.Simmons brings with his role as Instructor Fletcher – A truly mind-blowing portrayal of serious showmanship & roof-collapsible satire!
  • The film’s screenplay (also by Chazelle) is unassuming yet unpredictable and the overall essence of the entire film gets captured in a conversation between the two in a bar – a microcosm!
  • The music & orchestration by Justin Hurwitz brings back Jazz to the future & the Art & Sets work by Hunter Brown and Karmarkar gives us a glimpse of music school classrooms!
  • There is a dialogue that expresses how “Good Job” could be the two cruelest words used in combination to restrict human enadeavour and that deserves a special mention. The film has its share of justifiable conversations to make us secretly envy the obsession with which the protagonists see their profession.

What’s Not

  • There are citations to musical prodigies from the USA & these drive home a point. Those unfamiliar with the Jazz scene are likely to miss these cues.
  • The parallel love track, though having a very striking scene at a café, is a distraction at best.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Whiplash can be seen as a tribute to the ‘Greats’ from various fields of interest as it captures wonderfully how tangential the line of tenacity runs to the circle that is discouragement and how the greats have made that extremely tough leap & scale unimaginable peaks!