Whiplash invokes nightmares of the 1970s and the horrible jazz music they injected into all manner of life at the time. For this alone I was never interested in this film and it weighs it down through out, no matter how well made it is. The soundtrack echoes in your head like a droning chaos of instruments in an elevator.
While this is a very well acted and directed film, it unfortunately follows the typical artist tropes for the lead (musician) and father (writer). Yet is not surprisingly written by a pretentious writer who is trying to tell some sort a "life lesson" but is doing so using one of the most disliked genres of music.
In a way this is more of a fantasy film because "music" like the lead character's cousin correctly states really is completely subjective. If you did a poll today no jazz musician would rank even in the top 1000. So believing you are going to be one of the greatest musicians of all time in a genre most people don't care about is completely delusional.
This film confuses intensity and obsession with hard work and passion. It is right on one point, that you need to earn your spot but to do so you need to know what it is you need to earn. A teacher needs to be a little bit of everything, a coach, mentor, disciplinarian etc.. not just a drill sergeant.
At the end I really wanted to like this film but looking at the train wreck the lead left in his wake it is hard to think this is a good lesson for anyone to learn. Great musicians have relationships, families and normal lives not just their craft.
Jazz like Whiplash just really isn't very good but it is also hard to stop watching. My main problem with it though is, I hate jazz.
While this is a very well acted and directed film, it unfortunately follows the typical artist tropes for the lead (musician) and father (writer). Yet is not surprisingly written by a pretentious writer who is trying to tell some sort a "life lesson" but is doing so using one of the most disliked genres of music.
In a way this is more of a fantasy film because "music" like the lead character's cousin correctly states really is completely subjective. If you did a poll today no jazz musician would rank even in the top 1000. So believing you are going to be one of the greatest musicians of all time in a genre most people don't care about is completely delusional.
This film confuses intensity and obsession with hard work and passion. It is right on one point, that you need to earn your spot but to do so you need to know what it is you need to earn. A teacher needs to be a little bit of everything, a coach, mentor, disciplinarian etc.. not just a drill sergeant.
At the end I really wanted to like this film but looking at the train wreck the lead left in his wake it is hard to think this is a good lesson for anyone to learn. Great musicians have relationships, families and normal lives not just their craft.
Jazz like Whiplash just really isn't very good but it is also hard to stop watching. My main problem with it though is, I hate jazz.
