Jan '15 *
As trash fans, we all dig trashy flicks. Low budget, offensive and underground. This right here, is not a trashy flick, but fuck me if it wasn't an awesome movie, so I'm going to do a write up anyway. It may not be low budget or underground, but its message could be interpreted as quite offensive, but that depends on how you look at it.
Andrew Niemen is a first year student at a very established musical University in New York. He’s into jazz music, and aspires to be one of the great jazz musicians of all time. But to do so, he needs to be recognised. Terrance Fletcher, played by the always amazing J.K Simmons, is his teacher, and will mould him into one of the greats, but through any means necessary.
I think this is something most of us can relate to on some level. Desperately trying to impress someone, and it never being good enough. Some teachers use a form of tough love to push their students, and some thrive on the emotional abuse to simply punish their pupils. I guess the main question this film asks, is where do you draw the line, how far is it really acceptable to go?
I’m not going to go over the obvious points of this film. The acting, the music, the cinematography, everything is pretty much spotless. Who I really want to focus on, is Simmons. I first saw Simmons in his memorable portrayal of Vernon Schillinger from the show Oz. And if you’ve ever seen the show, you’d know he played one of the most evil characters on it, the skinhead nazi who lead the Aryan brtotherhood.
Somehow though, he managed to play and even scarier character in this. This is where I had such appreciation for this movie. This movie is fucking intense. When a musican stuffs up, or is playing out of tune, or the wrong tempo, you can almost hear a penny drop. Simmons as Fletcher is one scary fucking guy. And watching the dynamic between him and Niemen is brutal.
This movie is a powerful rollercoaster with what could be deemed as a dangerous message, but I have no doubt in my mind that people like Fletcher really exist. Whether they go too far or not, and whether the ends justifies the means is up to the viewer to decide.
I was going to post a trailer, but the trailer doesn’t do the movie justice. In fact, had I had seen the trailer first, I probably wouldn’t have watched the movie. Just see it.
9/10
Andrew Niemen is a first year student at a very established musical University in New York. He’s into jazz music, and aspires to be one of the great jazz musicians of all time. But to do so, he needs to be recognised. Terrance Fletcher, played by the always amazing J.K Simmons, is his teacher, and will mould him into one of the greats, but through any means necessary.
I think this is something most of us can relate to on some level. Desperately trying to impress someone, and it never being good enough. Some teachers use a form of tough love to push their students, and some thrive on the emotional abuse to simply punish their pupils. I guess the main question this film asks, is where do you draw the line, how far is it really acceptable to go?
I’m not going to go over the obvious points of this film. The acting, the music, the cinematography, everything is pretty much spotless. Who I really want to focus on, is Simmons. I first saw Simmons in his memorable portrayal of Vernon Schillinger from the show Oz. And if you’ve ever seen the show, you’d know he played one of the most evil characters on it, the skinhead nazi who lead the Aryan brtotherhood.
Somehow though, he managed to play and even scarier character in this. This is where I had such appreciation for this movie. This movie is fucking intense. When a musican stuffs up, or is playing out of tune, or the wrong tempo, you can almost hear a penny drop. Simmons as Fletcher is one scary fucking guy. And watching the dynamic between him and Niemen is brutal.
This movie is a powerful rollercoaster with what could be deemed as a dangerous message, but I have no doubt in my mind that people like Fletcher really exist. Whether they go too far or not, and whether the ends justifies the means is up to the viewer to decide.
I was going to post a trailer, but the trailer doesn’t do the movie justice. In fact, had I had seen the trailer first, I probably wouldn’t have watched the movie. Just see it.
9/10
Thanks for the heads up!
Whiplash is coming to DVD in the U.S. next month so I already added it to my Netflix Queue!