Saw 'Whiplash'......

........and could have skipped the entire experience except for my wanting to evaluate Best Supporting Actor nominee J. T. Simmons' performance.

The Link

Spoilers ahead!!!!!




Simmons' forcefully portrays a music conservatory's band director, who will stop at nothing, including both mental and physical abuse, to force students to realize their potential,

The student jazz drummer who is the recipient of this mistreatment does have a couple of other relationships, but neither one adds to the screenplay enough to count for much.

There is so much band practice interrupted by bad treatment that I, as a musician, quickly tired of the tone and repetitiveness of this flick.

Imagine "Black Swan" with nothing to the story except abusive ballet practice and "All the Right Moves" with nada more than Craig T. Nelson's football coach punishing Tom Cruise as a player.

Or "The Bridge on the River Kwai" featuring only sadistic torture without that redeeming train wreck at the end.



The jazz band plays excellent music and the drumming is really good, but IMHO this film depends too much on a single theme to satisfy a majority of movie goers.

To mix metaphors: For me, this cinematic effort beat too long on a one trick pony after it became a dead horse.

Recommended for those interested in watching J. T. Simmons fine performance and perhaps some misogynistic musicians, but IMO other movie choosing folks would do well to march to the beat of a different drummer.

I believe renting "Whiplash" for home viewing would completely serve all the needs of what I personally see as a limited audience.

Your thoughts are certainly welcome to vary.

 

I understand your view point, but I liked this movie. The acting, music, drumming, and story were interesting to me. I always wonder what it takes to make people perform their best. While I know that I wouldn't have responded well to the teaching methods in the movie, it seems like some other people do. I also kept thinking about what was in the teacher's background to make him teach like that. The movie kept me interested in how things would turn out.

 

Wideawake summed up my feelings. I was very interested i what was going to happen next.

 

I wanted to punch the teacher in the neck