Whiplash

Alberto Vignatelli

(This review may contain spoilers)

Whiplash (2014) is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and certainly a milestone for modern cinema. The movie tells the story of a young drummer, Andrew Neiman, played by Miles Teller, who is selected to join a group of skilled musicians at the Shaffer Conservatory. He is chosen by Terence Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons, who would later become his teacher.

We follow the development of Neiman as he evolves into a much more nervous individual and matures an obsession with drums. This is to perfect his tempo and performance just as Fletcher demands in a very impatient and aggressive way which slowly drains the protagonist’s mental health to make him achieve perfection in musical performance and let Neiman become “one of the greats”.

The instructor does this in many ways throughout the film. During the first rehearsal as a band, Fletcher starts by complimenting Neiman, then, however, when the song skips to a much harder part with a quicker tempo, the instructor insults and verbally attacks the drummer. In the scene, he repeats that Neiman is not as fast as the track when in reality, if checked, the viewer can hear and confirm that the tempo is correct and that Fletcher is doing this to push the protagonist beyond his limits. As he explains later on in the movie, he did this to push Neiman beyond his limits because Fletcher believes that this is the only way to become “one of the greats”.

Another of these tactics that Fletcher uses can be seen during the group’s first performance with Neiman. The protagonist was chosen to turn the pages to the other drummer during the performance, but Fletcher wanted Neiman to play, so, to make this happen, he secretly steals the original drummer’s music sheet. The drummer now couldn’t play as he didn’t memorize the notes, but Neiman did and so he takes his role in practices and performances. Fletcher never really confirms this, but we know it’s true because at the end of the movie, during the final performance, Fletcher gives Neiman the same music sheet with the same notes taken on it.

Whiplash isn’t just a movie, but a journey that keeps the audience stuck to the screen for the entire duration of it. Whiplash is a masterpiece that achieved perfection in just an hour and 46 minutes. Whiplash is filled with many symbols of very high importance and crucial to the story. Whiplash is one of the best movies that came out in the last decade and certainly mimics some of the greatest movies of all time into character building and the character’s mental health development part of the movie. This is Whiplash.