Marval Movie

Whiplash is a red-hot-blooded movie that takes the act of playing in a grup musik and sucks you in and crushes you in it's world.

The movie doesn't waist a single second of itself. We see Andrew Neimann (Miles Teller), drumming like no other. He drums with a passion. Then walks in Terrence Fletcher, the big coach for the winning band. When he walks into a room everyone else is silent. You could play good, you might be playing in the right tempo that's on the sheets but he will stop you if your "Not on my tempo." He also gets to say some of the most colorful insults you'll hear in a movie. J.K. Simmons as Fletcher is amazing. He fizzles with energy and preciseness. He could have been the fiery, unrepentant jerk teacher but Simmons injects soul and understanding to the character.

Teller is like Mark Zuckerberg's performance in The Social Network, with robotic delivery in a few scenes, some social awkwardness and perseverance to be the best. If being the fastest drummer means going all night until your hands bleed then he does that, then dunks them in ice water.

There is a slight romance that happens within the movie but already the movie and the characters know that this isn't where Andrews real interest lies so its brushed aside rather quickly. I've never seen a more efficient and non-apologetic approach to the romance section of a movie.

The sound of the movie is among the best of them. The music itself is some of the good old jazz stuff, so that in-itself is nice, but the atmosphere of the music room, the feel of a finger moving across a music sheet, someone inhaling before playing their part. You can smell the strings and the sweat.

To accompany the music is the pitch perfect matching of picture to music. The movies editing is some of the sharpest I have ever seen. The whole movie is as if David Fincher took on a musical. The cutting between the instruments, the sheets of music, Fletcher conducting and the players themselves is something that forms and perfect fast passed experience.

There are other characters, that are finely enough drawn and acted, but it is so hard to remember them because in the movie we have and unstoppable force on one side and the immovable object of Neimann and Fletcher. I don't know which was which, I'm pretty sure they switched between the two during the course of the movie.

I had my blood pumping throughout most of this movie, at the end I was ready to go running or climb up a wall. This is only director, Damien Chazelle's second film and it is a winner and I think we may have a great filmmaker on our hands.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4