Starring: Miles Teller, J.K Simmons.
Whiplash is the emotional and intense film which follows Andrew Newman (Teller). A propitious student who manages to get into a jazz band at school, taught by the rigorous teacher who has his own way of doing things. When pushed to his limits, we see whether Newman can truly become one of the greats.
I can't even. Whiplash was unreal.
The trailer for this film, whilst doing the film justice, didn't make it out to be overly great but after watching the film I see why they did that. Although the entirety of the movie was predictable, throughout the movie I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen next or where it was going. This is something I thought worked extremely well in co-ordination with the intensity of the film. You just never know what was going to happen.
This is the kind of film that focuses more on the story and acting than anything else, which I find strange for a Sundance movie.
Regardless, Miles Teller played the main character and if you're a regular reader of this blog (which nobody is) you'll know that Miles Teller has been in all the recent films I've watched. And in every movie, he keeps on getting better and better. He showed such depth to his performance and really let the audience see his emotions.
J.K Simmons, who played the teacher, also gave an excellent performance. He was able to switch his personalities instantaneously which made his character so much more believable, understandable and relatable. His performance was powerful and strong.
As well as the acting being well executed, the script was also something that stood out.
Although Whiplash did focus a lot on the musical side, with less than average speech, what was there was golden. Everything that was said, was said with value and actually meant something. Everything added up to a bigger picture and it was so cleverly put together. The words and sentences used were witty, intelligent and moving.
As this was a film, focused more on the narrative than the image, the cinematography wasn't anything overly special. The images were however very classical which I feel meshed well with the whole 'jazz' vibe. With a lot of browns and neutrals, the image projected the story more, as your attention wasn't taken away.
The film was stripped of so much and was just raw art. There were very little locations and what was there was minimalistic and pure which again, helped project the story.
When watching the film, I thought that some of the scenes were unnecessary and irrelevant; such as the scenes with the girl Nicole (Melissa Benoist) or with the family dinner. Then I understood that it was all necessary and helped us understand just how much drumming means to the protagonist. This again was something that highered my opinion of the film, everything had meaning and everything had value.
As a whole, I found this film to be moving and powerful. After watching, me and my friends were astonished by what we had just watched and the simplicity of it all. I would highly recommend this film, although I feel if you're not too into films or don't really understand cinema then, this isn't a film you would appreciate. So far on IMDB, Whiplash has 8.8 stars and I wholeheartedly agree.
The film was stripped of so much and was just raw art. There were very little locations and what was there was minimalistic and pure which again, helped project the story.
When watching the film, I thought that some of the scenes were unnecessary and irrelevant; such as the scenes with the girl Nicole (Melissa Benoist) or with the family dinner. Then I understood that it was all necessary and helped us understand just how much drumming means to the protagonist. This again was something that highered my opinion of the film, everything had meaning and everything had value.
As a whole, I found this film to be moving and powerful. After watching, me and my friends were astonished by what we had just watched and the simplicity of it all. I would highly recommend this film, although I feel if you're not too into films or don't really understand cinema then, this isn't a film you would appreciate. So far on IMDB, Whiplash has 8.8 stars and I wholeheartedly agree.
