WHIPLASH (2014) One of the decidedly less visible movies this season, Whiplash proves a well-directed and hard hitting surprise. It concerns a young aspiring jazz drummer who attends a prestigious music conservatory in the hopes of becoming the next Buddy Rich. Then he meets the instructor from hell in the form of J. K. Simmons. Whiplash morphs into the Parris Island scenes from Full Metal Jacket as Simmons channels R. Lee Ermeys Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. To put it bluntly he abuses the ever living shit of our young hero and his unfortunate classmates, both mentally and physically. There are multiple occasions in which chairs are thrown and people are physically assaulted while four letter words and homophobic slurs fill our ears. This is the kind of role I wish J. K. Simmons would perform more often, as I feel his incredible range and character acting are often wasted in the movies he finds himself in these days. Of course, Miles Teller displays uncommon valor and skill in this kind of low key, high intensity atmosphere and may be one of our new up-and-comers. It is also notable how many scenes successfully use The Social Networks rapid fire dialogue and green hued cinematography to highlight cold emotion behind a cerebral exchange. (The reach of that film has proven long indeed.) The musical segments are intense and compliment the emotions of the characters performing them - with literal blood on the drums in several scenes. I present this conflict-driven drama to you as an excellent example of why we still bother to make Oscar bait in todays cynical age. -Joshua Wayne Sheetz aka The Goddamn Batman https://youtube/watch?v=7d_jQycdQGo
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 23:28:53 +0000
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