Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell, Nate Long, Chris Mulkey, Damon Gupton, Susanne Spoke, Max Kasch, Charlie Ian, Jayson Blair, Kofi Siriboe, Kavita Patil, C.J. Vana, Tarik Lowe, Tyler Kimball, Rogelio Douglas Jr, Adrian Burks, Calvin C Winbush, Joseph Bruno, Michael D. Cohen, Jocelyn Ayanna, Keenan Henson, Rachel Bornholdt.
It is the one central theme of the film Whiplash, the act of dominance, which makes it such an achievement of cinema making.
Like making a film around sport, a film around music is one that is hard to frame and capture properly because anyone who steps through the doors of a cinema will have a different relationship with compositions and melody. One person’s finest moment on vinyl is another’s measure of tedium. Yet somehow between Damien Chazelle, J.K. Simmons, Miles Teller and the sound of polished jazz, Whiplash is a film of intense precision and outstanding depth.
J.K. Simmons gives one of the most electrifying performances on screen, perhaps in his whole cinematic career, as the brutal, perhaps arguably slightly psychotic band leader and yet there are moments a sheer beauty within the raging torment that resides in the heart of the Conservatoire tutor, a softness of expression in which he betrays himself but they are all tinged with a dark side that the film goer soon understands to be setting up for a fall of the highest possible magnitude. The alleged kindness he shows for a fallen former pupil is in stark reflection to the lack of concern he shows for his drummer’s physical and mental health when teetering on the drum stick edge. It is wreckage waiting to happen but the cinema goer cannot help but be compelled to watch.
It would be cynical to suggest that one of the main effects the film will have on audiences is to revisit their personal music library. If there is no golden age of Jazz to be found within, then sales at certain record shops might just rocket. The impact of the music, which is the true star of the film and the combination of imagery of Charlie Parker and Buddy Rich dominating and controlling the tempo of the film.
It is a film of domination and how far you will allow one person to push you to achieve the idealised perfection of your chosen craft? When playing to someone else’s command, how long till the shackles chafe and pull on the prodigy, how long before they truly let loose and fight back to gain the ascendancy they feel they deserve? It is that question of control that see-saws between the two men at the centre of the film. Whilst the music is undeniably the winner, exquisite, brutal, shaming and authorative, the power play between tutor and the pupil is chilling, remarkable and hypnotic.
Damien Chazelle’s script and direction drip astonishment moment by moment. Even if you are a fan of music, if the semi-quaver is in your blood stream poking away and duelling merrily with a crotchet or two and the tune never leaves your head, the jaw will drop slowly at the drive that is captured on Miles Teller’s character of Andrew. The sheer pain he puts himself through to be the best is like Rocky pounding on frozen meat in the abattoir, but with more realism and making a lot more sense.
Ultimately Whiplash is astounding, shocking and utterly breath-taking; an insight into how music is not just intense but is the beat behind the heart, the corner stone of all artistic endeavours. Sensational!
Ian D. Hall