Whiplash

     This is one of the best music movies that I've ever seen. I would put it second in my favorite movies about music after the Karate Kid's(Ralph Machio) guitar movie Crossroads, where he duels guitar shredder Steve Vai. This movie is about a jazz drummer attending Shafford Conservatory of Music, learning jazz and playing in Studio Band, which is a big band performance class. Shafford is a fictional school in New York. The student is Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller), a first year student who idolized Buddy Rich. The teacher who whips the students into shape is Mr. Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Basically one late night Andrew is practicing the drums at the school and Mr. Fletcher just happens to walk into the room, asking him to play some rudiments, the one he asked was a double time swing rudiment. Their first meeting was awkward but you got the sense that from that first meeting Mr. Fletcher saw greatness in Andrew despite the fact that he seemed to lack confidence in his demeanor.
     So basically Andrew is in a lower level jazz band class where he's confined to turning the pages for the other drummer, who gets to play more than he does because he's first drummer. Out of nowhere during one of the classes Mr. Fletcher comes in looking to pick musicians for the Studio Band, which is the best band in the school. He asks Andrew and the first chair drummer to play their double time swing. Because Fletcher already knew Andrew could do it it was automatically a given that he was going to get chosen over the other guy, especially because Andrew already knew what he was looking for because Fletcher asked him to do it the other day before. So in a way Fletcher has already made his mark for Andrew, picking him over this other drummer named Conelly.
      Once Andrew is in the band he begins to realize that Fletcher is an asshole that cusses out and insults his students to get good results. He resorts to insults like 'no wonder your mommy ran out on you' and 'Jesus fucking Christ! I didn't know they allowed retards into Schaefer!'. He's a pretty funny guy but after all the insults are said and done you begin to despise him. I've had some interesting music teachers myself. In high school at Wauwatosa West I had a music teacher who sometimes had an attitude with the students, he had his good days and his bad days. But he was nothing like this. My first guitar teacher was a really cool hippie type that loved Hendrix and Jeff Beck. In college I didn't really stay long enough to find great music teachers but I wish I could have stayed at UW-Parkside in Wisconsin to work and learn from this great jazz trumpet player named Russ Johnson. This movie really reminds me of being in college. But I digress. So Fletcher goes crazy trying to get all the scores and the music right and eventually Andrew becomes first chair drummer in the Studio Band. But the only reason he became the go to drummer for the band is because at a music competition the original main drummer lost the sheet music for the tunes and he could only play from looking at the score. Andrew had the whole tune memorized so he played instead, gaining Fletcher's affection and main go to drummer in the band. 
     Eventually there's another big competition. I think this is what all the big music schools really try to do in colleges, do these music competitions to get their students noticed, maybe signed on record labels or get them to join prestigious bands or orchestras. So Andrew is on the bus getting to the comp but the bus gets a flat and he's running late. So he gets off and rents a car and gets to the place but he forgot his sticks in the car. So he gets back to the car to get his sticks but gets toppled by a truck! This part of the movie was totally easy to see because he was yelling and shouting on the cell phone to one of the other guys in the band, yelling 'I'll be right there!'. After he gets hit, he climbs out of the car and runs back the to place where the whole band is waiting for him. But he's so injured that he can hardly play. Fletcher tells him he's out and then Andrew goes ape shit, tackling Fletcher like a football player onto the ground and punching him in the face. 
     Next scene we have Andrew and his dad (Paul Reiser), talking to a school social worker about how Fletcher abused him psychologically and emotionally. She states that a previous student had gotten depression after working in Fletcher's class when he was a student, and that the guy had hung himself not too long ago. 'What does that have to do with me', Andrew asks. Then the woman says that whatever is being discussed will be confidential and that Fletcher won't know about it. Finally Andrew agrees to talk saying 'tell me what you want me to say'. 
     At this point its summer time and Andrew is working at some kind of cafe but still living in his small New York apartment. When he gets off he walks past a club where he sees a jazz band is playing with guest Terrence Fletcher. In this scene we see that despite Fletcher being an obscene, loud, and abusive teacher that he is really a beautiful cat. His piano playing here is so soulful and emotive, it's a wonder why he started teaching and wasn't just a jazz musician performing in clubs all the time. Sometimes you find music teachers who are great performers and teachers. But other times you'll find a great teacher who isn't such a hot performer, or vice versa. After Fletcher plays a great piano solo Andrew starts to walk away but Fletcher calls to him and they sit down and talk, like what happened between them was long forgotten and now they're best friends. Fletcher mentions that he's no longer working at Shaffer, and Andrew acknowledges the fact that he already knew this. After they talk Fletcher mentions that he's looking for a drummer that knows the scores to the tunes 'Whiplash' and 'Caravan', the two tunes that Andrew worked hard to master while in school before he dropped out. Andrew decides to do it because this would allow him to play with Fletcher (who was conducting) at the JVC Jazz Festival, a real life jazz festival that happens every year. But we don't know yet that Fletcher was secretly planning to screw Andrew here because once he's at the gig onstage at the festival they're about to play a song that Andrew doesn't have the score for because Fletcher didn't give it to him or tell him about the song at all! Then he goes over to Andrew and says 'you don't think I know it was you fucker'. Pretty crazy revenge he was getting here because Andrew didn't know the song but played anyways, making a fool of himself. The bass player was all like 'what the fuck are you doing man'. After the tunes over the audience still claps, which leads me to the idea that sometimes jazz fans are ok with whatever happens at a jazz concert, even if there are lots of mistakes. It is an improvisational artform after all and sometimes there are mistakes that can be made while improvising. It's not like classical music where if you miss a note on the page, the audience isn't satisfied with the performance. Anyways, so Andrew gets mad and runs offstage, hugging his father for support. Then he decides to get back onstage and he starts playing this wild solo, queing the bass player for the intro to 'Caravan'. Fletcher is actually happy about this and the whole song is fabulous. When the end of the tune comes in Andrew plays this totally Buddy Rich-inspired drum solo for like 10 minutes before he ques Fletcher to the ending of the tune. It was a great musical performance on the drums. This movie is all about drums and jazz drumming. I find myself to be a very rhythmic person, I even want a drum-set but can't really put it in my house because its too small here. My friends always say that they see me more as a drummer than a guitar player because of how I always air drum to songs that we listen to. The solo at the end was my favorite part of the movie because it shows that even though he dropped out of college and was down and out, he was still a great musician, all because of Mr. Fletcher's guidance. It shows that really all it takes to be great is determination, training, and will. It doesn't hurt to have a teacher or guy that yells at you to practice harder. 
     Lastly, the music in this movie was astounding. The music was composed by a guy named Justin Hurwitz. He also did the great film score for Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, another great music movie that I saw back when I was younger. The music is all big band oriented stuff because in college that's what the university jazz curriculum focuses on. The drumming was incredible, especially the last drum solo at the end. I would recommend this movie to any jazz fans and drummers. They would really appreciate it more rather than just the average movie watcher. However, that doesn't mean that a regular audience wouldn't enjoy it because the film got great reviews and premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, with critical acclaim for Simmon's performance. The film was inspiring to me as a musician. Even without musical training or conservatory school you can be a great musician!