I teach painting, drawing and workshops in ‘public art,” and would never treat my students, let alone another human being the way Terence Fletcher, the intensely controlling jazz instructor in a prestigious Music Conservatory in NYC (eerily and wonderfully acted by J.K. Simmons) “hammers” his students to what Fletcher considers “perfection.” WHIPLASH directed by Damien Chazelle is part psychodrama, horror story, case study in manipulation, naked ambition and teaching techniques - do results justify brutal means? OR as I have found to be true does it do the opposite - discourage students to such a degree that they drop out or break down.
We first meet Andrew (Miles Teller) in a movie theater sharing popcorn with a companion - who happens to be his father. Andrew, though socially awkward, is a young man who single-mindedly knows what he wants from life - to be as great a drummer as the legendary American jazz drummer Buddy Rich and in an almost Faustian bargain willingly succumbs to the spell of an abusive teacher who he believes can deliver him his goal. Fletcher’s modus operandi is one of debasement coupled with an occasional affirmation all in the name of precision and superiority; a frighteningly dictatorial approach to the evolution of creativity.
The exchange between student/teacher can be a tender one - growth develops out of sensitive and genuine respect for a pupil’s intelligence and capacity, or one that is fraught with anxiety and sadistic motivational techniques. In WHIPLASH - the apt title comes from a Hank Levy (American jazz composer and saxophonist) tune that the school band is rehearsing over and over again; blood is psychologically and literally spilled under the “master’s” pummeling - the repetitive practice drilling into one’s psyche - the audience becomes as tense as the pounding sounds emanating from the tautly stretched membranes which are struck with sticks know as “beaters.”
Personalities and events are not always anticipated which made the movie compelling. Characterizations are slowly revealed through frenzied musical performances; audacious hunger for success taking precedence over one’s personal life and human contact. Between the two lead characters, there are shifts in domination like a wire which coils and uncoils pulling their mentor/disciple relationship together and apart, spawning a tarnished creative union.
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