[RBadmin]

I thoroughly enjoyed the film Whiplash. IMBD describes the story as “A promising young drummer enrolls at a cutthroat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.”

The instructor uses a lot of graphic profanity, which could make views uneasy. But there is so much passionate commitment to succeed (by both student and teacher) that this supersedes the flaws. One some level it reminded me of a modern version of Roark and Cameron.

As a huge fan of Duke Ellington, I was happy to hear his tune Caravan prominently featured in the film.

[Harry Mullin]

I found the language to be the least offensive part of the film. Far more difficult was “psychopath as Teacher” that dominates the action. I found that to be almost unwatchable in parts. 

I’d be interested in the views of musicians whether the musical dramitization showed any improvement during the film and whether the demand to “play to my beat” was just another sick manipulation on the part of the teacher. To my ear (which admittedly isn’t saying much), the before and after sounded very similar albeit “faster”.

[RBadmin]

I just listened to Leonard Peikoff’s review and totally agree. It is in two parts.

 

http://www.peikoff.com/2014/11/24/peikoff-reviews-a-new-movie-whiplash-and-gives-it-a-5-star-rave-part-i/

[ZacharyKauble]

**Spoilers**

From beginning to end, I loved it.  The consistently rich style was breathtaking.  

Ayn Rand’s themes were always some variation of man vs the collective.  It’s an important theme.  But I’ve always wondered what art would be like in an Objectivist world in which the collective was already rendered impotent.  What then would be the conflict presented in art?  I think it would be man vs nature, and I think that this theme is touched upon in this film.

Both protagonist and antagonist wanted to achieve a value.  The antagonist was NOT out to destroy values.  Both teacher and student lost only to the extent that they made mistakes. (The student lost a girlfriend, the teacher lost his position as well as a past student.) 

In my view, their real conflict was with nature.  They were both trying to figure out how to achieve their values in this world. There was no collective that got in their way…at least in any serious way.   

The only Peter Keating-like character is the student’s father.  And like Keating, this character is not a serious threat.  My favorite scene was when the father was peaking through the door at his son’s final performance and witnessing his son in rapture.  I was reminded of Dali’s painting, Corpus Hypercubus, except the father was not in awe.  The expression on the father’s face is a reflection of the modern world in a nutshell.  It was an expression of shock and disappointment upon witnessing greatness.

In a bizarre way this film reminded me of why I loved The Hunt For Red October.  In that film, the theme was again in my opinion, man vs nature.  Ramius and Ryan were trying to figure out how to achieve their values amid a complex backdrop of obstacles.     

[darnoconrad]

**Spoilers**

I agree with Peikoff’s review as well, except that I don’t give the movie as high a rating as he does.

I thought the last scene was brilliant. But does the end justify the grueling “psychopath teacher” until then? 50 minutes of insults, shouting, and banging for 10 minutes of movie greatness?

Something Peikoff didn’t mention: I enjoyed the contrast of when we saw the main get cut from the band after the accident. Instead of practicing and coming back to prove that he belonged, he gave up. But when presented with the same alternative at the end of the movie, when the teacher humiliated him on stage, he made the volitional decision to not back down.

Lastly, after classifying the teacher as a persona non grata, he compromises and gets burned.

Addendum: Upon second viewing, the psychopath teacher did not phase me, nor the yelling and insults. I’ve gained a much greater appreciation for the movie. Also, I’m happy to report that the theater crowd came out cheering and extremely happy with the movie.

[Chuck Butler]

Harry Mullin asks:

I’d be interested in the views of musicians whether the musical dramitization showed any improvement during the film and whether the demand to “play to my beat” was just another sick manipulation on the part of the teacher. To my ear (which admittedly isn’t saying much), the before and after sounded very similar albeit “faster”.

In my nearly 40 years as a professional musician, I have not met a single musician who could immediately (within a measure or two) distinguish 216 from 215 beats per minute. Moreover, a drummer who keeps time like a digital metronome is not necessarily desirable (least of all in jazz). Time is elastic; there is a give and take that is critical to the feel of the music (which is one of the reasons that jazz is particularly difficult to recreate convincingly via computer sequencing). I don’t know whether this should be regarded as a shortcoming of the script (there are certain other aspects of the film that are not entirely musically accurate) or as an intimidation tactic on the part of the teacher. I suspect that the primary concern of the filmmakers was to construct scenes in such a way that non-musicans would get the point, and that they were prepared to sacrifice some authenticity to that end–call it artistic license. Of course, any decent drummer needs a solid sense of time, and this is something band directors (rightly) take seriously. Rushing or dragging is definitely a problem for many drummers (including many pros). But the tempo issue as portrayed in the film is, in my view, overdramatized for effect.

[RBadmin]

Thanks for the musical feedback Chuck.

My answer to both Conrad and Harry is that yes, the 50 minutes of psychopath does indeed justify the last scene. In fact, I think it underscores it. Neither character is compromising in their principles and both despise mediocrity. One follows his goal properly, and the other does it very questionably.

I liken it to Victor Hugo piling one incredible obstacle and/or conflict on top of another, until the reader believes the hero will not be able to move forward, but yet he does.

I am up to 5 viewings of the film and enjoy it more each time.

[JimWhitton]

I noticed that J.K Simmons got a Golden Globe nomination for best actor. He deserves it. He did a terrific job in the role of Fletcher. 

[Chuck Butler]

For those who may be interested, I’ve posted more extensive comments on the film here:

https://www.hbletter.com/forum/books-movies/thoughts-on-whiplash/#p1761

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