Kubrick Rubric Ratings: So, What Stands in the Way of 'Whiplash''s Path to Greatness?

 

As I struggle to find my footing in this new adult, post-graduation life, I've found myself pondering how exactly the ultra-successful were able to do it. Where'd they find the time? The energy? The inspiration? How does one eclipse success and make it to glory? 

I  don't  get  it.

So, I went looking for answers to those questions and I was driven back to Damien Chazelle's 2014 music drama Whiplash. The film is straight forward: a young man named Andrew, played by Miles Teller, is at the top music school in the country, and he is seeking "greatness" under the tutelage of the most dignified and cut-throat conductor at the school, Fletcher - played by the terrifying J.K. Simmons. The movie follows Andrew's journey as he attempts to rise to the top of the percussive world in Fletcher's core jazz band, and we see in painstaking detail the abuse that Fletcher has become notorious for unfurling upon his students: physical punishment, emotional manipulation, and displays of depravity that could seriously injure or kill. Whiplash, aptly named I'd say, is less about drumming and more about what one will endure, what one will lose, to achieve greatness. And in examining that, the movie itself was able to climb towards the pinnacle of cinema. 

Whiplash won three BAFTAS. It won a Golden Globe. It won three more Oscars. And along the way, it racked up 87 more wins. Based off of fan ratings, Whiplash currently sits at #46 on IMDB's list of the Greatest Movies of All Time. It is, by all metrics, one of the highest regarded films ever made. So, what is its KRR? Let's get into that.

-SPOILERS AHEAD-

The first time I saw this movie was in 2014, and despite being a few years removed from drumming this movie spoke to me personally. I'd grown up playing percussion, so I knew deep down how infuriating it is when you can't just nail that one little thing. It's like, "Man, all I have to do is get this down beat in the sixteenth bar right and then everything will come to me." But it just won't come. You try and you try and you try, but you can't get it. You do it enough times that it becomes a mental block. And then the mental block that tells you you're never going to get past the sixteenth bar becomes emotional, because every time you mess up the sense of defeat compounds. Drumming is just as mental and emotional as it is physical. And that's what Whiplash captures so perfectly.

You just want Andrew to be successful this whole movie. You need him to be successful, deep down in your gut. You clench up every time Fletcher opens his mouth, because you're afraid of the hell fire he's about to rain down on your sweet baby boy. When Andrew almost loses his seat to the jock he had been turning pages for at the beginning of the movie, it's difficult not to scream at your screen. Miles Teller's performance is so lovable and easy to root for because it's so genuine. There aren't any music doubles. Teller himself is playing all of the parts (which is no small feat). Teller himself is getting berated. Teller himself is getting physically punished by J.K. Simmons. In what has got to be one of my favorite five minute stretches in movie history, it really is Teller taking slaps to the face from Simmons.

Let's break down that scene. Every single second of it is perfect. The way it moves from total calm, to unsteadiness, to chaos is masterful. For the first two minutes you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know Fletcher has a dark side. You know he's mean. But you don't know that he's ready to decapitate a college freshman for being slightly ahead of tempo. Simmons rides the razor's edge between disarming and batshit crazy for most of the scene, before unleashing a hurricane on Andrew's head. 

You have to laugh through lines like, "If you deliberately sabotage my band, I will fuck you like a pig! Now, are you a rusher? Or are you a dragger? Or are you going to be on MY FUCKING TIME!!" because Fletcher is so fucking terrifying that you aren't quite positive he isn't going to literally murder Andrew. You laugh because the slightly off-beat tempo should not warrant this reaction. You laugh because every part of the scene feels real. Simmons looks genuinely irate as the light glints off of his molars' silver caps. Teller looks scared - not like movie scared, but like actually scared, like he didn't know this was part of his role. Teller thought he was making School of Rock, and Simmons came in trying to one up Full Metal Jacket. Teller's performance is perfect, there's no other word for it. But Simmons, with this particular brand of brutality - well, his is one of the greatest performances of all time.

J.K. Simmons and his shiny molars.

Now, lets get to my brother's favorite part of the movie, which happens to be my least favorite. (Go figure, Luke is my polar opposite after all.) That's the car crash, about two minutes into the clip below.

Why's it Luke's favorite scene? I don't know. Probably because he's a psychopath. But here's why it's my least favorite. First of all, the cinematography scares the hell out of me every time. (Yeah, yeah, I know. That's the point of it. I get it. The cinematography of this whole movie is amazing, and this scene is no exception, but I don't like jump scares, so...)

Second of all, and more importantly, it's the only time in the movie that feels like a "movie moment." As in, a dump truck slams into Andrew's car at full speed on the driver's side, totaling and flipping Andrew's car, and he crawls out with nothing more than a bloody head and an apparently slightly injured left arm. That's some movie bullshit. In real life, he'd at the very least be unconscious. He'd have at least a few broken bones. And, if we're perfectly honest, he'd probably be fucking dead. There's no way in hell he crawls out of that car crash and is even able to attempt running back to the concert. That's for damn sure.

My last problem with this scene is that, if done correctly (as in he needs to go to the hospital for his near-death accident), it would really bring a whole new layer to the rest of the plot. A few days before Andrew's crash, Fletcher breaks down crying in front of the band at the news that one of his former students had been killed in a car accident. (We find out later that Fletcher was lying and that the former student had actually committed suicide, in part because of the stress and depression Fletcher had helped bring into his life. But that's beside the point.) The point is, after Andrew's REAL accident, it could've been an incredible plot to see Fletcher reconcile with his actions, his lies, and where he pushes his students, while Andrew tries his hardest not to let the accident hold him back from obtaining greatness. And while yes, that's a very different movie, I think it brings us to the same places: Andrew has to leave Shaffer Conservatory because of his injuries, and Fletcher is either removed or steps down following the accident. Eventually they cross paths again and decide to push for greatness as a tandem outside of the school. This happens in the film anyway, just with a bitter underlying conflict instead. But there's no reason that bitterness wouldn't remain in this new version. Andrew nearly got killed for Fletcher. Fletcher lost his job because of Andrew. Both are true in both versions of the plot, except in this one the car crash has more emotional weight and doesn't feel as unrealistic. Just some food for thought.

While we're on the topic of missed plot points, I'd like to point out that there is a B-plot in this movie that involves a romantic fling between Andrew and his crush, Nicole, played by Melissa Benoist. Unfortunately, this plot does nothing for the movie because we literally get three scenes of them: him asking her out, their first date, and him breaking up with her. I wish there had been more. It's a good plot. He leaves her because he knows she'll stand in the way of his dream. And that's a compelling narrative character arc. But the break-up scene, which is by all means good, just doesn't carry any emotional weight because we don't see even a single scene of their actual relationship. Boo!!! Get your love stories together Damien!

Aren't they so cute. Too bad we literally never see them happy again.

Now, back to the plot that I do like - the final ten minutes of the movie. I'm going to try to speak in as little detail as possible for those of you who've read this far without watching the movie, but there are some critical details to mention: Fletcher and Andrew have reunited and they're headlining a jazz festival. At first, things look they're going to go smoothly, but then because of some underlying draaaaaaaama, they go at each other. Only this time it isn't physical. It's musical. And it produces the best ten minutes of the movie and one of my favorite endings of all time. 

Seriously, this ending is up there with The Usual Suspects and the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Body Snatchers blog TBD). The lighting is perfect, the film cuts are perfect, the lines (i.e. "I will gouge out your motherfucking eye.") are perfect, the unspoken chemistry between Fletcher and Andrew is perfect, and the music, the MUSIC is PERFECT. 

This whole movie is a modern masterpiece, and is certainly worth watching for the performances and music and narrative drama. But really, at the end of the day, the movie is worth watching for the ending alone. It's perfect. By the end, everything you've needed to hear, you've heard. And that's all I look for when I watch movies. That and answers to life's biggest questions. Luckily, Whiplash provides.

As it turns out, greatness is obtainable. But it might just kill you.

Beautiful.

Whiplash KRR: 9.5/10