I first watched “Whiplash” during my sophomore year of college. I had a rare stretch of the semester with little to do, so I found time to sit around and watch a few movies.
“Whiplash” had been suggested to me by a few different people. I hadn’t committed to watching it because I foolishly couldn’t bring myself to sit down and watch a movie about jazz drumming. And boy, was I foolish. This movie left me stunned and, more importantly, gave interesting commentary on chasing your dream to be great at something.
“Whiplash,” released in 2014, stars Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman and J.K Simmons as his ruthless and impassioned jazz instructor. The roles were interesting jobs for both actors, insomuch as the film came right before both Simmons and Teller gave notable performances — J.K. Simmons in “La La Land,” “The Accountant” and “Patriots Day” in 2016 and Teller in “War Dogs” in 2016 and “Top Gun: Maverick” with Tom Cruise in 2022.
“Whiplash” only had a budget of $3.3 million, initially releasing into theaters without putting out good numbers. Its opening weekend was rough, only making a little over $135k. Since its release, however, the film has grossed over $50 million as the movie gained popularity and won three Oscars.
This movie is dark, and I don’t mean thematically. The low lighting of the film emphasizes the empty practice rooms, dark corridors and drab dorm rooms that Teller hides in to perfect his craft. It’s meant to symbolize the loneliness and isolation he commits himself to as he spends hours practicing. Teller’s commitment to his craft drives him to blood, sweat and tears throughout the movie. It becomes his idol.
This movie is also quiet. Obviously, it’s full of the sound of drumming and the tapping of cymbals, but Teller’s character is quiet and somber. He only aspires to one thing. The movie’s loudest moments are the intense shouting matches between Simmons’ Terrance Fletcher and basically anyone he can yell at. The lighting and sound design in this movie make you feel like you’re walking the dark halls of Shaffer Conservatory of Music with Teller as he strives to be the best.
J.K. Simmons’ performance in this movie is other-worldly — in fact, he won an Oscar for it. Fletcher instructs a studio band at Shaffer, only allowing the best to perform. He requires perfection and berates anyone falling short. His actions put fear into everyone, the goal to motivate the students to be the best they possibly can each AND every time.
The heart of this movie is the commentary on how far can you drive someone to be the best — and where they take over. At what point does the individual take the challenge to be their own or choose to give up? Andrew’s journey down that road becomes more and more lonesome throughout the movie — including a scene where he breaks up with his girlfriend, essentially telling her that he can’t be the best and be with her. He chooses being the best over her.
Where do you draw the line in striving to be the greatest at something? The movie does a fascinating job of disguising this issue because it makes you root for Teller’s character. As you watch, you find yourself losing grip with this line and subconsciously forgetting that Teller’s actions are silently eating away at him. He wrecks relationships, loses sleep and loses a sense of reality in his pursuit. It begs the question, how far will you go to be successful? Every person has a hierarchy of importance in life, and in the pursuit of success, everyone has to sacrifice something different.
This motif is perfectly summed up in the film’s tense family dinner, in which Teller says that he would rather die young, drunk and broke and have people talk about him at a dinner table than be rich and old and have nobody know his name — alluding to musician Charlie Parker.
Teller’s character made clear his intentions: to sacrifice everything short of his life to be the greatest. We don’t know if he did, as the movie ends before he gets there. I guess we’ll never know if he was talked about at dinner tables.
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