Fish and Cherries Productions

Whiplash was a very intense movie, but it wasn’t a murder mystery or any kind of thriller. It was about music, specifically jazz drumming. In fact, it goes a long way to show how music isn’t all fun and games and involves a lot of work. Struggle, even. Some of the more memorable scenes are when the main character is practicing so hard that his hands bleed. Most of the tension comes from J.K. Simmons’ hard nosed teacher character. I’ve had a lot of strict and hard teachers in the arts, but this guy is on a whole new level of extremity, pushing his students in such a way that you wonder if it qualifies as abuse. Then again, the main character’s behavior sometimes borders on obsessive masochism, drumming past his body’s limit and undergoing some pretty deadly risks just to become a great musician. Yet through all of this, you can understand where they’re coming from. It’s a sparring match of ideologies and expectations, culminating in a finale so intense that I could hardly breathe until it was done. Rarely do I see a movie where I feel I absolutely have show it to people and get it more widespread. Whiplash is that movie.