• I’ve tried Chazelle debut, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, several times and it isn’t quite up to snuff for the archives—so this here- seems to be arrival of a true artist- everything is studied and intentional- a whooping achievement for any director- let alone one 29 years old
  • From the opening- a gorgeous tracking shot with Miles Teller practicing with the open door framing him
  • It’s the role of a lifetime for JK Simmons- long-time solid character actor from Juno to Burn After Reading– he’s phenomenal here- a great battle with Teller (who is even stronger)- sorcerer and apprentice, cat and mouse with an ending and ambiguous ending
  • Like many great films from Raging Bull to Citizen Kane it’s a character study- Teller’s Andrew gets his self-worth from Simmons’ Fletcher- when he is chosen he has the confidence to ask out his girlfriend
  • The lighting is fascinating- again- very intentional to spice up a film that is largely contained with no sun in dark rooms—there’s a yellow/green hue to much of it
  • Early in the film Teller is late for a practice and falls as he’s rushing- it foreshadows the crash
  • Clearly you could draw a directly line from Whiplash to Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket with Simmons as R. Lee Ermey’s Sgt. Hartman and Teller as D’Onofrio as the Pvt. Pyle
  • The performance is on point by Simmons—but there’s great iconography and characterizations in the screenplay and direction- he’s got the closed fist for “stop” and the “not my tempo”
  • There are certainly scenes where it’s the performances that keep it from being repetitive. There are 3-4 long scenes of him lambasting Teller and the other kids. But you almost need the duration in order to survive it and empathize. I believe it to be a necessity for the impact of the film, performance
  • It’s absurd that there was no Oscar nom for Miles Teller (Simmons won for best supporting—as did the editing which is well deserved)
  • Chazelle through two films seems to be obsessed with driven characters- here and La La Land. Great auteur markings and reoccurring themes
  • Again- characterizations- with Simmons’ Fletcher—he hints at it being an act- or at least something he can turn off and on—Cries when former protégé dies in a crash (which turns out to be a lie)’ he’s cutthroat of course- be he can joke with a young girl and be kind. He gives a nice pep up speech to Teller
  • Blood is a reoccurring visual theme- several times in the film
  • Some great dialogue “Turn my pages, Johnny Utah” and “No two words are more harmful in the English language than good job”- skilled writing
  • The editing is a behemoth- whip pans, cutting on the music and then the final act, sabotage and solo- the lighting is inspired but the work by Chazelle and his editor Tom Cross- sublime
  • A Must-See film- top 5 of the year quality