Beyond the Boundaries 3- Research part two (Reviewing 'Whiplash')

To inspire my film and look more into the music and documentary genre, I decided to watch 'Whiplash' (Damien Chazelle, 2014)

Review: 

Whiplash follows the story of young drummer, Andrew, a hopeful drumming superstar who enrols at a music school where he hopes to be one of the greats, like Buddy Rich (Numerous references to his work). He meets Terrence Fletcher, a strict music instructor who pushes Andrew to breaking point to show his full potential as a jazz drummer. The film follows Andrew and Terrence's relationship, which changes throughout the film, switching from a mutual respect of each other, to violent confrontations. This results in Andrew snitching on his own instructor to get him fired, which he does successfully. The film spans several different small-stories, for instance the break-up of the short lived relationship between Andrew and Nicole because he wants to pursue his musical dreams, the confrontations between his family who do not take his drumming career seriously and a car crash incident which stops Andrew from playing a music recital.

Two favourite scenes:

Scene 1:

Drum Solo scene

The drum solo performance towards the end of Whiplash has to be a personal favorite moment in the film. The performance shows the passion that Andrew has, being intimidated by Terrence and embarrassed by him because of the change in song performance. Terrence tested Andrew's patience and passion for drumming by putting him through situations to test his tolerance to rejection and the real, harsh reality. Through fast-paced editing techniques, varying camera angles and sensational acting by J.K. Simmons (Instructor) and Miles Teller (Andrew), the scene brilliantly portrayed both characters in the way in which they had been made out to be throughout the film, and showed the strange bond the two characters had between one another.


Scene 2: 

Drum-off scene;

This scene is probably one of the darkest parts of the film through the sheer agony on each characters face, trying to play the right drum fill in order to get the part in the band. Terrence, the instructor, pushes each of them to their breaking point, eventually pushing Andrew so far that his hand starts to bleed from the grip of the drum sticks.  The humorous elements in the scene add to the horror of what is actually happening, for example at the end when Terrence says "You wanna clean the blood off of my drum set" to one of the other students and when Terrence starts throwing instruments at Andrew whilst he plays, which is a reference to an earlier scene when Terrence and Andrew have a conversation about how another teacher hit a drummer in the head with a cymbal to get him to play the right drum fill. Again all of the actors performances were brilliant in portraying actual distress and physical harm because of the speed in which they were being made to play at.


Final thoughts

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I was extremely impressed by the performances of J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller's characters, which for me really brought out the narrative of the film in a dark, sinister way, which is something I did not expect. The film itself was an experience that makes you feel genuine distress and concern for Miles Teller's character and forces you to have a love/hate relationship with J.K. Simmons character. The narrative itself is quite simplistic however its the performances of the characters which adds to the complexity of the idea, making the audience go through a rollercoaster of emotions, hoping that after everything, Andrew gets the success he well and truly deserves. The film inspires me to not hold back when it comes down to the darker side of the story which I may stumble across when researching and making my documentary film. I highly recommend the film.