Movie Review: Whiplash

I don't know if I can possibly describe Whiplash without putting in a video of me screaming and crying and overall overwhelmed with emotion. Let's just say I'm a huge fan of Damien Chazelle now. He does work. Good good work.

So first thing. Disclaimer: this movie was pretty foul. Lots of swearing that would not agree with anyone with sensitive ears. In my book, I didn't really notice it as unnecessary. For example, I did not like the movie, Silver Linings Playbook at all because they swore so much. It was unnecessary and grating. In this movie, they almost used it as a tool. It served to increase the whacky high stress levels of the movie. It's not a suspenseful movie but there's so much suspense. It's like real life in the fact that you had no idea what was going to happen. Was it going to turn out all right or was it going to take a nasty turn for the worse. It hurt to watch.

J.K. Simmons is a fantastic actor. He was the one perpetuating most of the swearing. He was so foul that sometimes, my mouth dropped right open. The things he was saying to students hurt me and I cried multiple times. Being a former member of a band that was almost as serious as this, it brought back HUGE amounts of anxiety. I don't know what it is about Directors but they are very very emotional people, at least the ones that I've been in contact with. I didn't even pursue music in college because I knew it would be just as stressful if not more. My first director was wild and unreasonable at best. He was so sensitive and you never knew what you were going to get from each day. It was a  very second-by-second emotional roller coaster. He would sometimes very mean things just like J.K. Simmons in the movie. My second director was fantastic and I have so much respect for him. We won. Everything. And we ended up being the best band of our state and arguably the best band in our country, winning a national competition. Not The national competition but still. I say this to illustrate that J.K. Simmons behavior is very realistic. As are the students reactions. They're fiercely loyal to the band and the director in general but there's a direct correlation between how good a player is and how much they respect the director. It's almost worship. So I can see someone like Miles Teller's character reacting how he did in the movie.

This brings us to Miles Teller. AHH. He was so cute. Which doesn't have anything to do with his performance but... he is so cute. Every performance he does has a certain wisecrack demeanor even if the words aren't meant to be humorous. It's something in his shoulders. This is just my opinion but it makes every part he plays almost mesmerizing to watch.

All in all, this is a 5 STAR movie. Please go watch it. It will make you FEEL THINGS. I loved it.