Cilogy wrote:Whiplash

I left the theater with a huge smile on my face. It's a thrill ride that also says some important things about ambition and artistry (even if the film hits you over the head with its messages). It's pretty singular in that regard, and may not present itself with too much depth, but it carries two pretty strong performances from Teller and Simmons, with the latter being among the best I've seen from that actor.

The editing in this film is phenomenal too, and in fact it's probably my favorite work of the year, with The Rover coming in second, probably.

theseeker9175 wrote:I so want to see this but it won't come to my country until January

Skyab23 wrote:

theseeker9175 wrote:I so want to see this but it won't come to my country until January

Sorry. They'll probably be a dvd rip of it that you'll be able to watch online before then.

theseeker9175 wrote:

Skyab23 wrote:

theseeker9175 wrote:I so want to see this but it won't come to my country until January

Sorry. They'll probably be a dvd rip of it that you'll be able to watch online before then.

I refuse to do such offense!

Its opening moments recall Manhattan, with the beautiful city of New York pitted against the thumping sounds of sexy jazz, and it’s from there Whiplash has you. It’s written and directed by Damien Chazelle, his first commercial film, and it’s a name you don’t know now but soon will. J.K. Simmons endearingly calls him a child since he’s only a few years older than I am. He’s 29, but despite his age, or rather in spite of it, he made one of the best films of 2014. Chazelle said he suffers from anxiety, but other than the realism of the psychology of Whiplash (an op-ed piece waiting to be written), it’s impossible to tell. This is a film made by a director with the Orson Welles complex, with the reckless confidence of a neophyte but with the skill of a veteran. He’s young enough to take stupid risks, like embedding kinetic close-ups of symbols crashing and hands clapping within scenes that, at least narratively, don’t call for them. Chazelle is ambitious, but his ambition is dark, twisted, and beautiful. Whiplash is the sadist’s sports movie, a psychological thriller that hurts.

Whiplash is a dichotomous character study between Neiman and Fletcher, they’re foils as much as two halves of a whole, and there’s a sick argument to be made this is a love story. Their relationship is toxic, not because Fletcher yells and demeans with the same enthusiasm first grade teachers hand out gold stars, but because underneath Fletcher’s torturous authority, Neiman actually agrees with him. Neiman likes the abuse. He might not like that he likes it, but he does because he wants to be the best. My worry is that without the lead performances and snappy direction Whiplash’s skeleton is so thin you’d worry it has osteoporosis. If I like it slightly less than some, that’s why. But a rip-roaring energy surges through Whiplash, and from the opening of Manhattan to the closing on a stage, your heart beats to the exaggerated pulse of double time swing.


A-