Whiplash: without a shadow of a doubt, this was the film of the
festival. Some critic somewhere will describe this as “cinematic Viagra” or a
“tour de force” – and that critic will not be wrong.
If you hate jazz, you may struggle to enjoy this, but if you’re
agnostic or love jazz, this will knock your socks off. It’s one of the great
music movies.
In brief, the film charts a student jazz drummer’s attempts
to impress his conservatory’s most demanding jazz teacher, played with venomous
zeal by JK Simmons (in a rare lead role). The latter’s Fletcher makes the
headmaster from Pink Floyd The Wall look like a jolly nice chap! He believes
great talents are not nurtured, but are pressured and shaped by strong forces
that push them through their natural barriers – in other words, bullying into
brilliance!
Fletcher puts Miles Teller’s student Andrew through the mill
throughout the film: he machine guns insults at him, putting Andrew under almost
unrelenting fire, and frequently and deliberately undermines him. As much as
you’re laughing at the very definitely non-PC phrases that Fletcher spits out,
you’re all too aware of the pain they’re causing to Andrew and the other
students.
Framed almost as a sports movie or action movie, Whiplash
builds to a crescendo that left me breathless. It is hard to convey how well this mashes up character-driven drama and electrifying and immersive 'action'. On the face of it, the basic
plot may be a bit pat, but in detail it raises questions about approaches to
education and training. To say anymore will ruin your enjoyment.
As well as the performances (JK will surely be shortlisted
by all the awards bodies and may well scoop all the big gongs), the film boasts brilliant direction from Damien
Chazelle (who also wrote the semi-autobiographical script), while the
combination of Sharone Meir’s cinematography and Tom Cross’s editing give the
film astonishing and gripping vigour. Indeed, the Academy might as well give
Cross the Best Editing Oscar now because no other editor stands a chance
against his work here.
Whiplash storms into the UK on 16 January: miss it at your
peril!
Score: 10/10
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