Whiplash — Tyler Zucker
“There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job,’” Terrance Fletcher (played brilliantly by J.K. Simmons) says to his student, Andrew Neiman (played incredibly by Miles Teller). Fletcher argues that in order to become great, one cannot simply settle for “good.”
Writer-director Damien Chazelle’s sophomore masterpiece, Whiplash, questions how far one is willing to push themselves to be considered one of the best. The film finds Simmons and Teller in a nightmarish relationship where the former is the tormentor and the latter is trying to survive his punishments to hopefully become one of the greatest jazz drummers in history. Chazelle’s driving question fuels the plot that allows for their career-defining performances.
J.K. Simmons’s Oscar-winning performance is one of, if not the best supporting roles in recent memory. The scene in which Fletcher first berates and then nearly decapitates Andrew with a chair is everything a skeptic viewer needs to view to see why his acting was so unanimously praised. Simmons’s outbursts are violent and profanity-ridden, but during the quieter moments, he hides the monster away and lets viewers see a glimpse of what he’s like outside the hell he brings his students into.
Although he is intensely strict and borderline psychopathically cruel, it is difficult not to respect Fletcher in his quest to mold a perfect superstar. His motives are without a doubt morally questionable, but the potential results are just one of the things that makes the film so enthralling. Even in the final frames of the film, where Andrew essentially improvises his way onto Fletcher’s good side, there is still a shred of doubt that everything worked out. The look that he gives to his pupil is one of praise but at the same time, it means that Andrew will give up so much more to continue to be this phenomenal player. Fletcher has him now and though Andrew wants to be the best, it seems he will lose himself in the process.
Chazelle questions just how far someone could or should push themselves in order to achieve what they want. He may not have gone through the hell Andrew faced with Fletcher, but he did achieve greatness through this film. Not a moment of screen time is wasted and from the moment Andrew is accepted into Fletcher’s prestigious band, the tension rises until the explosive finale. Chazelle may be onto his fourth film, but Whiplash will always be remembered not only for Simmons’s performance, but for the perfection Chazelle put to screen.
