film about music

''Whiplash" is a 2014 film directed by Damien Chalezze. This film is all about music, a young man named Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is practicing late at night at his New York music school, one of the best in the country, when his drumming catches the ear of the infamous Mr. Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), the most important teacher at the school and the conductor for its most important jazz band. Fletcher pauses, listens, barks a few orders at the young man, and moves on, seemingly dissatisfied with what he heard. Andrew had his chance, that one brief moment many of us have to impress the people who can change our lives, and he didn't cut it. He goes back to his routine class band, telling his dad  (Paul Raiser) that his opportunity to move up probably passed him by.

 Of course, Fletcher's dismissal of Andrew in that first scene is just the first of many examplesof what could politely be called his "teaching style." Fletcher likes to tell the apocryphal story of how Jo Jones threw a cymbal at Charlie Parker's head one night when he messed up, thereby pushing him to the breaking point at which he became Bird. Without that cymbal, would music history be the same? Would Charlie Parker have gone home, refined, practiced and driven himself without the threat of not just failure but physical violence? Fletcher uses that kind of barbarous technique on his students: throwing furniture, calling Andrew names, playing mind games and physically torturing him with repetitive drum solos until he bleeds on the kit. But that blood gives Andrew a musical passion. And Andrew matures, asking out the girl he's been afraid to talk to before, and taking first chair in the most important band at the most important music school in the country.                                             

 I think that  “Whiplash” is partly a notable film purely for Teller and Simmons’ performances, it reaches a different level when one considers the execution of its tempo, but also editor Tom Cross and cinematographer Sarone Meir  often put us right on stage with Andrew and Fletcher, cutting and panning in rhythm with the beat of the drum. It is captivating, to say the least, particularly in a climax that produces more tension than any action film or thriller . The title refers to a song played multiple times throughout Chazelle’s film. It could also refer to that sense of wowed exhaustion you’ll feel when it’s over. I would genuenely recommend this film to not only musicians, but also to people who love drama and complicated plot. There are some parts where you have to know at least a little bit about solfegio and rythms, but you don't necessarilly have to be a musician to understand the film.