Whiplash 2014

      Terrence Fletcher is a respected professor at a prestigious New York music academy.  He has very strong opinions and he believes it is a disfavor to students to tell them what they did was a good job.  That sets them up for failure because a good job is not good enough.  Andrew is practicing his drumming and Mr. Fletcher takes notice of him.  He invites Andrew to play in his ensemble jazz band.  Mr. Fletcher demands perfection and he doesn’t care what he has to say or how much he needs to bully the musicians to get perfect sound and tempo.

      Part of this film is based on the actual experiences of the director, Damien Chazelle.  As a viewer you learn right away it’s the wrong thing to do to tell Mr. Fletcher anything about you personally!!  He throws everything he knows back in everyone’s faces without any compassion or humanity.  It seems Mr. Fletcher may not have any humanity?  How much can he abuse and push without breaking the spirit of all the students in the band?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

107 min, Drama directed by Damien Chazelle with Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang, Chris Mulkey, Damon Gupton, Suanne Spoke, Max Kasch, Charlie Ian.

Note:  Imdb 8.6 out of 10, 94% critic 95% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*.

Special Note:  Miles Teller has played the drums since he was 15 and he actually received blisters that bled onto the sticks and drum set during the intense drumming scenes.  J.K. Simmons suffered two cracked ribs in one of the scenes but he continued to work with the injury.  This film was shot in 19 days, it was edited and submitted to Sundance Film Festival in 10 weeks.  Academy Awards received by this film are for Supporting Actor, Film Editing and Sound Mixing.  Other awards were received from AACTA, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild and Satellite.