This is a movie about jazz for people who know fairly little about jazz. The less one knows about the history of the form, drumming, playing in a band or music schools, in fact, the more likely one is to be taken in by this off-key head game of a film. It’s the second feature from Damien Chazelle on the subject of aspiring musicians.
Chazelle’s first film, 2009’s Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, told the story of an aspiring jazz trumpeter. In his Sundance Audience Award-winning follow-up, the writer-director tells the story of an aspiring jazz drummer. This time, instead of a tap-dancing girlfriend, he’s paired his central character with a music instructor from hell.
Miles Teller (who does his own drumming) plays Andrew, a freshman at a fictional conservatory in Manhattan. As the movie opens, he bashes away in a practice room while a silhouetted figure listens outside the door. This turns out to be Fletcher, the institution’s demon drill sergeant, feared and revered for his punishing perfectionism.
The role is so unlike anything J.K. Simmons has ever played on the big screen that I wondered whether he has an evil twin. Pumped up, head shaved and dressed in black trousers and tee, he suggests a Bizarro World Mr. Clean as he hurls insults — and chairs — spews ethnic slurs and slimes his quivering pupils with sexual and homophobic invective.
My guess is the movie’s makers expect us to see Fletcher as a tough-but-fair teacher, taking to a new level the tradition of pictures like Stand and Deliver. Did I mention the part where he teaches Andrew a lesson in keeping time by slapping the boy’s face in tempo? Are we inspired yet?
Teller’s character dreams of being the next Buddy Rich and believes making first percussionist in Fletcher’s prize-winning school ensemble is key. Think Mr. Holland’s Opus meets Rocky. I’m serious.
Andrew practices until his hands bleed, numbs them in bags of ice and then practices some more, spattering his drums with crimson. He cuts loose his girlfriend (Melissa Benoist) so he’ll have more time to practice. And, in one particularly over-the-top sequence, he crawls from under a wrecked car and staggers to a concert, where he attempts to perform despite being injured and bloody. There wasn’t this much blood in Gladiator.
What a weird film. Are we not supposed to notice that it’s a valentine to an abusive relationship? Or that the kids are pitted against one another like they’re attending the University of Hunger Games? Or that Chazelle plays fast and loose with the facts? Fletcher loves to tell the self-justifying saga of drummer Jo Jones motivating a young Charlie Parker by throwing a cymbal at his head after a mediocre solo. The truth is, Jones merely let a cymbal clang to the floor in a gesture of disapproval.
So why are abuse and untruth glorified in Whiplash? The relationship only gets more sick and manipulative as the crowd-pleasing climax arrives, leaving me wondering precisely what the crowd was so pleased about. Andrew’s a better drummer by the end of the film, but students traditionally do improve over the course of a year.
What they don’t traditionally do is undergo the ludicrous levels of physical and psychological mistreatment depicted here. That’s not how it works. Unless, as Simmons himself has observed, “you’re training Navy SEALs … I’d rather have a pretty girlfriend,” he told Iconic Interview, “than … have my hands bleed all the time. I would have made a different choice.” If you’re thinking about spending time and money on Whiplash, you might want to make one, too.
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2014.
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The reviewer writes: “What they don’t traditionally do is undergo the ludicrous levels of physical and psychological mistreatment depicted here.” Actually, the director said in an interview that his film was mostly autobiographical. In fact, this kind of abusive relationship is rampant in competitive sports and music programs all across the country. The director also said that his jazz ensemble was voted best high school band in the country by Downbeat, so the film asks the question: is it worth it? It’s a good, timely question. The reviewer dismisses the question as preposterous and irrelevant. In America today it is neither.
Also it’s a little weird to have a reviewer take issue with an utterance made by a psychopath (Fletcher) because of its dubious historical accuracy. I didn’t know that in film even psychopaths are to be held to the highest scholarly standards…
Loved it. Have seen it twice now and highly recommend it.
I don’t think this movie “is a valentine to an abusive relationship.” I interpreted the movie with Andrew as the protagonist, and Fletcher as the antagonist. Andrew’s goal for the entire movie was to earn Fletcher’s approval. He did indeed do that at the end of the movie, so, for all intents and purposes, the villain won. Andrew did become a better drummer, but did he become a better person? I would say no, because he became arrogant and selfish (he left his girlfriend to further his drumming). The relationship was abusive, and Fletcher was manipulative and vindictive. Nevertheless, Andrew worked to win his approval. I believe the film leaves it up to interpretation whether his experience with Fletcher made him a better person. I say no.
Interesting that a film that has received almost universal acclaim gets short shrift here. Don’t let this reviewer’s bias against this film keep you from having a wonderful experience at the movies. There are too few quality films being made these days for you to miss this one.