The actual drummer was Bernie Dresel. [25], Amber Wilkinson of The Daily Telegraph praised the direction and editing, writing: "Chazelle's film has a sharp and gripping rhythm, with shots, beautifully edited by Tom Cross... often cutting to the crash of Andrew's drums.
Better results, both personal and musical, could be achieved by a teaching culture founded upon co-operation and mutual support rather than aggressive competition. But this will only happen when the musical professions take real steps to reform a brutalising and dehumanising range of practices and attitudes, the justifications for which are no more convincing than those of Fletcher. Despite relying on two-dimensional characterisation and implausible scenarios, the film makes some very pertinent points about bullying and the pervasive power games that conservatoires promote.
He rises and rises until it becomes CRYSTAL clear just how strong, how determined, how self-directed this young man truly is. Abuse in music education is an issue that also currently features in a very different sphere – the Oscars race. I think I would have struggled forever, whether I had known what to call my struggles or not (I say this because, for the first eight years at least, I didn’t have any idea what to call what was wrong with me!).
The site's critical consensus states, "Intense, inspiring, and well-acted, Whiplash is a brilliant sophomore effort from director Damien Chazelle and a riveting vehicle for stars J. K. Simmons and Miles Teller.
In December 2015, the score received a Grammy nomination, and the film was nominated for the NME Award for Best Film. What It Means & How to Deal, Why We "Click" With Some People and Not With Others. He crawls from the wreckage and runs back to the theater, arriving just as the ensemble enters stage. [18], Whiplash grossed $13.1 million in the U.S. and Canada and $35.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $49 million against a budget of $3.3 million.
A few weeks after Andrew is expelled from Shaffer, his father contacts a lawyer representing the parents of Sean Casey. Write an article and join a growing community of more than 115,800 academics and researchers from 3,764 institutions. [21][22], Peter Debruge, in his review for Variety, said that the film "demolishes the cliches of the musical-prodigy genre, investing the traditionally polite stages and rehearsal studios of a topnotch conservatory with all the psychological intensity of a battlefield or sports arena.
Neyman desperately wants to rise above the mediocrity he sees in his family and those around him. [7], Right of Way Films and Blumhouse Productions helped Chazelle turn 15 pages of his original screenplay into a short film starring Johnny Simmons as Neiman and J. K. Simmons (no relation)[8] as Fletcher. His drive attracts the attention of the story’s main antagonist, Shaffer Music Conservatory conductor and bandleader Terence Fletcher. Juilliard, for example, first offered jazz courses in 2001 and few big names in jazz – such as Charlie Parker or Buddy Rich, both mentioned in the film – had this type of musical education. [MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT] Just in case you still actually want to watch the film….. Andrew rises. He quickly singles out Neyman for special attention. At the star-studded Academy Awards, remember that the essence of what is portrayed in Whiplash is very real and has profound effects upon many young musicians. Have you ever had mentors who seemed to be treating you very harshly, only to later find out those mentors had their own reasons for such treatment? "[23] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the performances of Teller and Simmons, writing: "Teller, who greatly impressed in last year's Sundance entry The Spectacular Now, does so again in a performance that is more often simmering than volatile ... Simmons has the great good fortune for a character actor to have here found a co-lead part he can really run with, which is what he excitingly does with a man who is profane, way out of bounds and, like many a good villain, utterly compelling. Somewhat late in the development of Andrew’s story, a minor character named “Sean Casey” is introduced.
Some use personality stereotypes, based on just a few tawdry attributes, to demean and humiliate the student and flaunt their own power. He rents a car but arrives late and realizes he left his drumsticks at the rental office. After Fletcher cues to last beat of the piece, Andrew continues playing, continuing into an extended solo.
She uses the language and rhetoric of musical discernment and sophistication to undermine the confidence and sense of self of those she resents and envies. This is why, to me at least, the focus on jazz and the rigors of conservatory life is but a shallow subtext to the real story of “Whiplash,” a movie that depicts through stark and unrelenting human meanness what it sometimes takes to survive and thrive. We follow a student jazz drummer, Andrew Neiman, as he is driven to the edge by tyrannical teacher Terence Fletcher. A series of women have come forward to attest to their abuse at the hands of former Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the late Marcel Gazelle, while many men came forward too with horrifying stories about the late Alan Doggett, the major conductor for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and former music director at Colet Court School, following investigations by myself and The Times. When the band rehearses the Hank Levy piece "Whiplash" and Andrew struggles to keep the tempo, Fletcher hurls a chair at him, slaps him and berates him in front of the ensemble. "[19] On Metacritic the film has a score of 88 out of 100, based on reviews from 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim. According to Fletcher, Casey was a Shaffer student who died unexpectedly in an auto accident.
Former career-minded musician that I used to be, I finally watched the movie “Whiplash.”. [3] In North America, the film opened in a limited release on October 10, 2014, in six theaters, grossing $135,388 ($22,565 per theater) and finishing 34th at the box office. For those of us lucky few who have been able to devote our professional lives to music, many factors beyond supposed talent or natural selection are involved, often beyond one’s personal control. [15][14] Chazelle was involved in a serious car accident in the third week of shooting and was hospitalized with possible concussion, but he returned to set the next day to finish the film on time. Following his expulsion, Andrew has abandoned drumming and is working in a restaurant. At first, young Andrew seems to fold under the pressure. He also reminds me that labeling what one is struggling to survive doesn’t change what it will take to overcome whatever-it-is….except in the case of perhaps providing more useful knowledge with which to win the struggle.
In March 2013 Michael Brewer, a former music teacher at Chetham’s school of music was jailed for 6 years after abusing a student who took her own life during the trial; a further teacher at the school (my own conducting teacher there) was jailed for 8 months in September 2014 after admitting to sexually assaulting a student when she was a child.
advice, diagnosis or treatment. There, the lawyer reveals that Sean actually hanged himself after suffering severe anxiety and depression from joining Fletcher's class, most likely due to the abuse Fletcher had caused him. These people have sacrificed everything else in their lives.
Ian Pace received an AHRC Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship from 2003 to 2006 in conjunction with the University of Southampton. This is far more striking than some of the other implausible and melodramatic plot devices. He reminds me of what it takes to survive anything in life.
He later discovers Fletcher performing as a pianist at a jazz club. When called for their second set, Tanner cannot play without his sheets, but Andrew claims he can perform "Whiplash" from memory. Library of Congress.
After a five-hour session with Tanner and Connolly for the core spot, in which Fletcher hurls chairs and screams at them, Andrew finally earns back the core spot. Fletcher invites Andrew to perform with his band at the JVC Jazz Festival, as they would be playing the songs Andrew was confident in from their time at Shaffer, and Andrew accepts.
I have been involved in as a campaigner and researcher on the subject of abuse in music education for several years. Whiplash’s Fletcher knows just how vulnerable and desperate fledgling musicians are.
Chazelle said that between takes, Simmons was "as sweet as can be," which he credits for keeping "the shoot from being nightmarish.
This is because, when I would start to whine about how “oh but I just can’t,” my wonderful mentors would help me remember to reframe it as “but I just won’t,” until I could reliably make this distinction for myself, and decide from there what I would or wouldn’t do. That Charlie Parker Story Is All Wrong.
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "Sundance Film Festival 2014 opens with premiere of 'Whiplash,' Damien Chazelle's tale of a brutal drumming instructor and his protege", "Sundance 2014: Sony grabs international rights to 'Whiplash, "Whiplash maestro Damien Chazelle on drumming, directing, and J. K. Simmons", "Two takes on Whiplash show that J.K. Simmons is scary in small doses, too", "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Jury Awards in Short Filmmaking", "Cannes: Bold, Blumhouse, Right Of Way Strike Up Band For Feature Version Of Sundance Short, "Tuesday, Sept. 24 Filming Locations for The Heirs, Undrafted, Dumb & Dumber To, Focus, Shelter, & more!