WELL??

I watched Whiplash. It was good, but erratic in effect. Some parts were majestic, but the characterization was underwhelming, which is the central focus of the film, and some of the writing choices were incredibly juvenile.

However, it definitely kept me on edge, and the hard bop tempo of the film made the searing drama burn like I was covered in paper cuts. I think the editing was fucking perfect, and easily the best feature, and this is a case study of what editing can do for a film, especially one as terribly written as this, but with good acting and camera work to redeem it. It reminded me of Alien in that it perfectly maintains one searing and caustic tone throughout and never let that note falter.

I would love to have had Andrew's relationship with his girlfriend mirror or supplement his relationship with Fletcher. The internal dialogue and masochism and it's toying with the recipe for greatness left so much go unsaid, that, most of the time, nothing got said. For instance, the sole refutation of Fletcher's methodology is one line: "You don't think, like, maybe sometimes you can go too far?" and that's hardly complex. Also, I got annoyed with the amateur treatment of "jazz-like" idioms and phrases that seem more akin to a 70s porno that tosses words like "cat" in to imply that "yes, these are, in fact, jazz people. Now here's something completely different"

The fucking energy, though, I am definitely so glad to see it carried over so well and translated trough a camera lens. Hard bop is one of my favorite styles of jazz, and has a lot of focus on percussion and jazz drummers are a special species that walk this earth, and this film definitely captured that.