Whiplash (2014)

Scritto da DanDare il 26 febbraio, 2017

J K Simmons won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his mean, bullying monster. Jazz teacher Terence Fletcher who abhors the words 'good job.'

Fletcher tells a tale about Charlie Parker and how doing a good job was not enough for him. Good job means mediocrity.

Yet Fletcher is a mediocre educator and his college seems not to have noticed this. Instead of being an inspiration his students fear him. He is a nasty tyrant and an incident from his past comes back to haunt him.

Miles Teller plays Andrew Neiman the put upon jazz drummer in the Shaffer Conservatory in New York. Neiman is eager to impress Fletcher but nothing he can do is good enough and withstands all the effluent Fletcher throws at him until one day he snaps.

Damien Chazelle unleashed an unethical monster in Fletcher with Neiman providing the film's heart but I am not convinced that this is a good film. The rest of the students in the class are silent to the abuse taking place right in front of them. They are young adults, not kids and they do nothing about it.