Raw Energy in 'Whiplash'

Almost everyone can name a few films that he or she loves crazily despite their apparent imperfection. These films may have logical flaws, loose structure, or redundant characters, but they are so full of originality and raw energy that everything else really doesn’t matter. “Whiplash,” the second feature of Damien Chazelle ’07/’08, is very likely to be added to this list. The film is not short of signs of immaturity: oversimplified characters, excessive use of shaky camera, and obvious imitation of “The Social Network,” to name just a few. However, every minute of the film is soaked with great passion for its music, which, through the intense dramatic conflicts and stormy jazz drum beats, brings audiences to a frenzied ecstasy. This is much more difficult to achieve than exquisite craftsmanship, and coming across a film like this is a fortune for any audience.

The plot of “Whiplash” is simplistic: it is essentially a story of only two characters. A promising young drummer named Andrew (Miles Teller) enters the nation’s most prestigious music school and is thrilled to have his talent recognized by Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), the legendary conductor of the school’s orchestra. However, he soon finds out that Fletcher is a psychopath obsessed with pushing his players beyond each and every artistic threshold. To achieve this, Fletcher uses the most primitive and (what he considers) most effective approach: a comprehensive methodology of shouting, swearing, and beating. The hero soon becomes depressed but also starts to practice harder and harder, partly because of his thirst for greatness and partly because of his desire to take revenge on his ruthless mentor. He gives up his family, his friends, and even his girlfriend to seek perfection in drums, and his secret competition with his conductor eventually becomes a full-blown battle.

Even just glancing at the storyline, one can tell that the two main characters are rather two-dimensional: one is designated with the stereotype of ambitious and devoted young artist, and the other should be added to the Oxford English Dictionary as the definition of the phrase “mad teacher.” There are definitely moments when Fletcher’s teaching becomes too extreme and one starts to wonder whether the director was actually fond of his college experience. However, the simplification of the characters helps the film save time on exploring character depth and leave more space for dramatic conflicts, which is absolutely a fair sacrifice. To get a clearer picture of this effect, one can think about The Joker in “The Dark Knight”: he is definitely one of the most two-dimensional characters in the last decade but is nevertheless one of the most impressive because he really reaches the pinnacle of evil. Teller and Simmons’s performances might not be as good as that of Heath Ledger, but like the latter, they explore their respective extremes in the most immersive and violent way. Teller, a rising prince of independent films, gives a memorable interpretation of a musician who sacrifices his entire life for his instrument. Simmons is best known as the foul-mouthed newspaper editor in Sam Raimi’s “Spiderman” trilogy, and in “Whiplash,” he seems to have completed a Ph.D. in swearing. His rampageous scoldings are no less striking than those of the officer in “Full Metal Jacket,” and in “Whiplash,” these scoldings serve one more purpose: keeping the fast pace and high energy level of the film.

While the story and acting may be enough to make “Whiplash” a good film, it’s really the music that sets up its greatness. Every drum performance in the film is powerful and mesmerizing, and even more so when one learns that they are all delivered by no one but Teller himself. The young star has been playing the drums since age 15, and to play this character, he took three drums lessons a week, each three hours long. The result is breathtaking. As the credits start to roll, drumbeats still lingering in ears, audiences can feel an almost physical exhaustion as if they had just been drumming for 106 minutes themselves. The power of the film’s music is further strengthened by the editing. Not only does Chazelle employ fast cutting to match the tempo of the drums, but he also does a lot of camera shaking and jump cuts between medium shots, close-ups, and extreme close-ups. These classical techniques to convey a sense of speed, while certainly not inventive, are very effective in visualizing the texture of drum performance.

“Whiplash” is far from flawless, and many of its details expose the director’s inexperience of using the camera as a narrative medium. However, even the pickiest and most insensitive critics would be enthralled by its emotions and would likely become immersed in the Dionysian revelry of jazz music.

—Contributing writer Tianxing V. Lan can be reached at tianxinglan@college.harvard.edu.