Whiplash (2014) - To Be An Animal Or Not.

★★★★☆

‘Whiplash’ is not a conventional shot of ‘chicken soup for the soul’ because, instead of pep talks or warmhearted moments or stuff, there’s only discouragement, torment and taunt, and loads of humiliations J. K. Simmons’s music school teacher exerts on one of his students named Andrew Neimann played by Miles Teller. So if you expect it to be exhilarating, bright and cheerful, you’ll be rather let down. It nevertheless, is a very good example of how someone is compelled to face his weaknesses and bear the unbearable before becoming one of the greats.

I don’t know how to appreciate jazz but this is a terrific piece of cinema in terms of convincing and powerful performances by Miles Teller who’s in fact a musician, a drummer for his own band, and also J. K. Simmons who looks, acts and talks very much like an intimidating devil in the film. If you think he’s mean enough, think again. Of course he’s doing it to try to discover the potentially great, an animal particularly competent at something in other words. In the film, you see Andrew turns from an ordinary into a complete maniac at drums that’s willing to take it all the way to go beyond what’s expected of himself. ‘Gotta be crazy to be great’ used to be my motto. I guess I wasn’t crazy enough like Andrew to be ready to give up everything including my life for it. That’s why I’m now one of the ordinary!

We all like to be praised and pepped up, not to be discouraged or humiliated. But if you really want to be great, would you mind? If you really are among the great, would you care at all? ‘Whiplash’ tells a dark, unpleasant, alternative way of seeking the extraordinary. It’s dramatic and tremendously cruel, but the truth is, it’s like no way to get a daring pair like that to demonstrate such a great story of insanity in life!