NYFF52 REVIEW: WHIPLASH

BY MATEO MORENO

Meet Andrew Neyman. He's 19 years old. A truly gifted drummer, he's currently attending one of the top music convervatories on the East Coast. He has a supportive father and is striving to be "one of the greats." One of the sure ways to help get him there is to get noticed by the drill instructor of a teacher Terrence Fletcher. He has the ability to launch musicians into stardom, or squash them like a bug. So comes Andrew, the soft spoken boy with big dreams, ready to pounce them. Unbeknownst to him, those dreams are about to pounce him. This is WHIPLASH.

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle had originally shot a few of the scenes from his feature screenplay and made it into a short. It won top honors at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and he then was able to shoot the entire thing. And thank the Sundance Gods for that. Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now, Divergent) plays Andrew Neyman with a simmering intensity that is sure to schedule his breakout moment this year. Side by side with an exploding energy is J.K. Simmons as the fire breathing conductor Terrence Fletcher that Neyman is so eager to please. Neyman wants to be one of the greats and Fletcher sees the talent and possible drive that lays in him. So he plucks him into his studio jazz band and thus begins a twisted set of intense mind games alternating with support for the boy, pushing him down much more than he's pulling him up, verbally abusive, and at one point even physically abusive. Why doesn't anyone say anything? Stand up to him? Because he's considered a legend, a true starmaker, and everyone wants their moment to shine. So when Fletcher hurls a chair at Andrew's head? He ducks and plays harder, until his fingers literally bleed. Bringing some light into his life is the young girl of his affection, Glee's Melissa Benoist. She works at the local theatre where Andrew and his father (a quietly moving Paul Reiser) frequent and may be his one token of happiness in the most intense year of his life. But everything must crash down before you can build it back up. That is, if you can build it back up.

Never have I seen a film set in the world of music with this much intensity. Chazelle brilliantly plays it more like a psychological thriller set in the intense world of climbing the music ladder. Teller is bristling with emotion and his performance drives this powerful piece from start to finish. J.K. Simmons is nothing short of a revelation. His performance is intense, grueling, and everyone can agree award worthy. As he throws derogatory and homophobic comments at his students he also drives them. But where's the line? Does the line matter as long as you make it past it? "There are no two words more harmful than 'good job,'" states the masochistic coach, furthering his own opinion that there is no good, only great. Luckily for us, this gifted writer/director has graced us not with a "good, but a great, great film." Buckle in, and prepare to be Whiplashed.

VERDICT: A MUST SEE

Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle  Starring Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell. CONTENT ADVISORY: Adult Language, Mild Violence

BOTTOM LINE: Not to beat around the bush, WHIPLASH is fucking great.