Double Feature Friday: Part Two – Whiplash

Here’s my thoughts on movie #2 from yesterday: Whiplash. I’ll be honest, when I first saw a trailer for this I wasn’t terribly interested, but the buzz about the movie just kept getting bigger and bigger so I resolved to see it regardless. That turned out to be one of my better life decisions. This movie was an anxiety fueled whirlwind (and if you know me you know I don’t need any more anxiety) that I ended up loving. It tells the story of a first year music student at a prestigious music conservatory in New York City and the conductor of the school’s top band. The student played by Miles Teller (who I think has a face that looks like you just want to punch it) is at first over ambitious but then his talent really shows and perhaps it’s not overambitious, perhaps he could truly be one of the greats.  Teller is a pretty good young actor at this point, though surprisingly aside from this film his only real standout in a serious film is The Spectacular Now. He has the possibility to turn into a household name with the Divergent series and with his role in the new The Fantastic Four reboot.  His performance here is very admirable and I’ll be sure to check out anything he does in the future but really the price of admission is to see J.K. Simmons go off the handle as the crazy conductor.

J.K. Simmons is absolutely terrific. He locks up a best supporting actor nomination with this performance and will be very hard to beat. Everyone knows who he is, even if you don’t know his name you know his work. And it’s really rewarding to see this veteran character actor given his time to shine. He’s probably best known for his roles in Jason Reitman’s films Juno and Up in the Air, but he’s integral to dozens of other films. He usually ends up stealing the few scenes that he’s in and anytime he shows up in a movie it’s usually a good sign. He’s usually used for comedic effect as his timing and delivery are perfect and juxtaposed with his appearance. Here his appearance is used to full effect. He is absolutely in amazing shape with biceps bigger than I could ever hope for. He’s truly menacing and perhaps one of the best villain’s in recent memory. He employs mental (and sometimes physical) torture to make his band and particularly his drummer be great. He will do anything to win a competition and be known for bringing up the next true virtuoso. Because of this it can all seem a little silly on the surface but after a few minutes in your seat watching his performance I challenge you to not feel the same anxiety the students must feel. Just sheer terror for playing a musical instrument ever so slightly incorrectly.

Also worth mentioning are a couple other good supporting performances, from the short lived love interest Teller has with Melissa Benoist, and his father played by Paul Reiser. Relative newcomer Damien Chazelle directs the scenes admirably. He always draws up the intensity. Of particular note is the wonderful and frenetic editing in this film, particularly in the scenes involving playing the jazz music, cutting between drum beats and sweating faces and bleeding hands. The low lit scenes in the practice rooms are great with deep black backdrops and yellow light.  He’s made one film prior and it was actually also released this year; Grand Piano. I will definitely be checking it out. While Whiplash was really really good I believe the competition would be too great here in the Best Picture category (though I hope I’m completely wrong), but like I said Simmons is a virtual lock for best supporting actor. The editing also would seem like it should be recognized and the cinematography has an outside chance as well.

If you like an intense psychological thriller that challenges you and makes you feel a touch uncomfortable then this will be a very rewarding film experience for you. The film had a real crescendo of an ending and there was applause in the audience (probably for the film and the musical performance as well). Oh and you’ll definitely be looking up the music played in the film when you get home. I don’t even particularly like jazz and that’s all I’ve been listening to on Spotify since last night.