Wiplash (2014) Review

WIPLASH

                    Movie Cover

The film is directed by Damian Chazelle. 

He also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (deserved in my opinion) awarded to  J. K. Simmons.

Let's start with the plot: Andrew is an aspiring jazz drummer. 

His dream is to become the best drummer in the conservatory.  Fletcher (the teacher) is known for his strict manner. Given the boy's talent, Fletcher tries to bring out his potential by pushing him, often in exaggerated ways. The search for perfection becomes an obsession for the boy, who now spends most of his time practicing. After various events, Fletcher will kick Andrew out of the band, who will decide to abandon his passion for music. In a club, he will meet the teacher again, who will offer him to play with his band. The boy will accept. The performance, which started badly, will later be a success. This is obviously a fairly small summary of the film, but I wrote it just to remind the story to those who don't know it, or who don't remember it. Talking about Fletcher, his behavior does not seem fictitious but real. This aspect also made Wiplash an excellent film.   The thing that anyone who has seen the film or simply some scenes will surely have noticed is the color grading.  

When Andrew is in school playing the drums, or having a good time the colors are gold and brown. But when Andrew is doing ANYTHING ELSE the colors are a murky mix of blue and green because anything else disinterests him.

      For more info on the colour grading I reccomend you to watch the video: Why is Whiplash Shot in 2 Colors?, by Movie LUTs

Also, I would like to point out that Miles Teller, the actor who played Andrew, was a skilled drummer, consequently he did about 99% of Andrew's drumming. Teller knew how to play drums before Whiplash, but he still took jazz drumming lessons. When they asked Chazelle (Glamour magazine interview) what happened to Andrew after the final performance he said, I think that's part of the fun of the fact that you don't know. Miles may have changed his mind, but I know that when we made the film, Miles had a much more positive feeling than I did. I wrote it as a kind of tragic ending: we are witnessing the birth of an artist, but the total distraction of a soul. 

Fact: Miles Teller was involved in a devastating car accident before he began his acting career.

Also, it is one of the lowest-grossing films to ever be nominated by the Academy for a Best Picture Oscar. 

For the slap scene, J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller shot several takes in which the slaps were only mimed. For the final shot, they decided to film the scene, which was later included in the film, with actual slaps and not having aabout enough budget for the film, Chazelle shot a short film called “Whiplah” and won the Short Film Jury Prize. With the money he won he made the film.

This is a film I recommend to anyone. The reason is that Wiplash is a film that has the ability to excite you, to inspire you, and allows you to get to know the psychological aspect of the protagonist in depth, making the film even more interesting. 

So yes, if you ever get the chance to see it, I recommend you do so.

Vote:100/100

#movie 

#review