Whiplash
Intense, Academy Award-winning student-teacher music drama starring Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) as a young jazz drummer aspiring to make it to the top, but having to go through the brutal tutelage of his ruthless instructor (J.K. Simmons in an Oscar-winning performance).
An eager-to-the-point-of-obsessive student at the prestigious (and fictional) Shaffer Conservatory, 19-year-old Andrew Neiman (Teller) pushes himself to become one of the all-time greats behind the drum kit. In the thick of this ultra-competitive environment, he catches the eye of the terrifying Terrence Fletcher (Simmons), who picks Neiman to play in the Conservatory's elite house band. With this opportunity comes a scarcely believable level of abuse, something Fletcher sees as necessary to unlock Neiman's full potential - but will he break him in the process?
- Director:
- Damien Chazelle ('Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench')
- Writer:
- Damien Chazelle
- Cast:
- Miles TellerJ.K. SimmonsMelissa BenoistPaul Reiser
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Liam Maguren
flicksAs a stress-inducing exercise in cinematic asphyxiation, Whiplash is this year’s Gravity. Where Alfonso Cuarón’s film placed an astronaut into merciless space, writer-director Damien Chazelle chucks 19-year-old jazz drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) into the merciless grasp of a brutal music instructor (JK Simmons). And just like Gravity, Whiplash is bound for Oscars.
I've gotta be honest (and call me a hater) I didn't like it at all, JK Simmons was amazing but the story was rather wanky, it didn't show Jazz musicians as having any kinda rapport or organic soul, it paid no lip service to the greats like Max Jones, Art Blakey, or Elvin Jones, but rather served as a mouth piece for the film maker's upset at not making the...
Whiplash
Damien Chazelle's Sundance award-winning Whiplash is an intoxicating, provocative drama. Ambitious 19-year-old jazz drummer Andrew Neyman wants to be great. The next Buddy Rich. He enrolls at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory, mentored by ruthless music instructor Terence Fletcher. Fletcher uses dehumanizing methods of physical and psychological cruelty...
FULL-METAL DRUMKIT
If you see only one movie this month - make it WHIPLASH. A searing study in the sacrifice and sheer damn hard work it takes to realise your full potential. Writer / Director Damien Chazelle turns the lens on his actors and never takes his finger off the maximum intensity gauge. Miles Teller is stupendous as a young jazz drummer tutored by JK Simmons, as a...
Variety
pressDemolishes the cliches of the musical-prodigy genre, investing the traditionally polite stages and rehearsal studios... with all the psychological intensity of a battlefield or sports arena.
The New York Times
pressIt may get a few things wrong, but it aims at, and finally achieves, an authenticity at once more exalted and more primal than mere verisimilitude.
The Guardian
pressIt's rare to see a film about music that professes its love for the music and its characters equally.
The Dissolve
pressThe film’s aversion toward clichés and hitting expected beats lends it a rare, welcome edge of danger.
Sydney Morning Herald
pressAs for the strangely exhilarating ending, it makes clear that what we have been watching is less a statement about art than a love story: a twisted one, but romantic in every sense.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe antithesis of “let’s-put-on-a-show” fluff, Whiplash...is about the wages of all-out sacrifice and commitment.
Flicks, Liam Maguren
flicksAs a stress-inducing exercise in cinematic asphyxiation, Whiplash is this year’s Gravity. Where Alfonso Cuarón’s film placed an astronaut into merciless space, writer-director Damien Chazelle chucks 19-year-old jazz drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) into the merciless grasp of a brutal music instructor (JK Simmons). And just like Gravity, Whiplash is bound for Oscars.
Variety
pressDemolishes the cliches of the musical-prodigy genre, investing the traditionally polite stages and rehearsal studios... with all the psychological intensity of a battlefield or sports arena.
The New York Times
pressIt may get a few things wrong, but it aims at, and finally achieves, an authenticity at once more exalted and more primal than mere verisimilitude.
The Guardian
pressIt's rare to see a film about music that professes its love for the music and its characters equally.
The Dissolve
pressThe film’s aversion toward clichés and hitting expected beats lends it a rare, welcome edge of danger.
Sydney Morning Herald
pressAs for the strangely exhilarating ending, it makes clear that what we have been watching is less a statement about art than a love story: a twisted one, but romantic in every sense.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe antithesis of “let’s-put-on-a-show” fluff, Whiplash...is about the wages of all-out sacrifice and commitment.
I've gotta be honest (and call me a hater) I didn't like it at all, JK Simmons was amazing but the story was rather wanky, it didn't show Jazz musicians as having any kinda rapport or organic soul, it paid no lip service to the greats like Max Jones, Art Blakey, or Elvin Jones, but rather served as a mouth piece for the film maker's upset at not making...
Whiplash
Damien Chazelle's Sundance award-winning Whiplash is an intoxicating, provocative drama. Ambitious 19-year-old jazz drummer Andrew Neyman wants to be great. The next Buddy Rich. He enrolls at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory, mentored by ruthless music instructor Terence Fletcher. Fletcher uses dehumanizing methods of physical and psychological...
FULL-METAL DRUMKIT
If you see only one movie this month - make it WHIPLASH. A searing study in the sacrifice and sheer damn hard work it takes to realise your full potential. Writer / Director Damien Chazelle turns the lens on his actors and never takes his finger off the maximum intensity gauge. Miles Teller is stupendous as a young jazz drummer tutored by JK Simmons, as...
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