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Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is an aspiring jazz drummer, determined to become “one of the greats”, who is plucked to join the top jazz ensemble in college by revered instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Fletcher is a brutal perfectionist, who pits his students against one another, silences them with the clench of a fist, and barks insults like, “That is not your boyfriend’s dick. Do not come early.” He tells Andrew to show up at 6am, when the rehearsal doesn’t start until nine. As Andrew struggles not to cry, Fletcher demands, “Oh my god, are you one of those single tear people?”. He hurls a chair at Andrew’s head, taunts him in front of the rest of the band, and makes him play until his hands blister and bleed. Although Andrew may struggle to keep up with Fletcher’s tempo, Teller’s brilliant, insular performance masterfully keeps up with Simmons’ more showy, yet utterly thrilling, one.
It is problematic to find a historically black art form reappropriated as a site for interpersonal drama between a couple of white guys, and Andrew’s fanatical obsession with Buddy Rich, a white musician, further serves to obscure its roots. Whiplash may fail as a “jazz film”, but beneath the extraordinarily taut and stylish surface, it’s a film more about power than jazz. Whiplash demolishes the sentimental clichés of the “inspirational mentor” genre, as we see Fletcher vacillate between warm and savage. Fletcher sweetly chats to a little girl, before blasting into a room and greeting his band “Listen up, cocksuckers!”. In another scene, he tells Andrew, “the key is to just relax” and asks after his father, only to use his answers against him a moment later, humiliating Andrew in front of the ensemble by mocking his father’s masculinity.
From the mesmerising opening tracking shot, through the excruciating “rushing or dragging” scene, to the breathtaking finale, Whiplash pushes the audience’s response from initial curiosity to open-mouthed awe. The final standoff provides the most exhilarating climax you’ll likely see all year. Absolutely electric.
