WHIPLASH at The Screening Room

About

WHIPLASH (2014) Cert 15
Miles Teller, JK Simmons, Paul Reiser. Directed by Damien Chazelle.

Arguably the greatest film ever made about the discipline and dedication required to pursue a career as a serious musician. It was the astonishing breakthrough movie from writer director Damien Chazelle, who went on to even greater success with La La Land.

Miles Teller excels as a promising jazz drummer who enrolls at an elite music conservatory in order to perfect his craft, but the film is dominated by the exceptional Oscar-winning performance of JK Simmons as the abusive, perfectionist tutor who runs his jazz ensemble like a military unit. "I push people beyond what's expected of them," Simmons tells Teller. "I believe that's an absolute necessity."

The result must surely be the only film that can genuinely be described as a "jazz thriller", with a final sequence of events that is among the most intense, exciting and uplifting you're ever likely to see in a cinema.