Whiplash…
Being an admirer of the music and the artists, I always keen to watch some good movies on music or which are on the artists, most of those are satisfying to watch and some of them are inspiring too. I just finished watching the movie ‘Whiplash’ and I would say that it blew my mind. I can't get my mind off that movie. It made such a huge impact on me.
The story is about a boy who is in college and wants to be a drummer. Dreaming about being a good drum player, he kept all the famous drummer’s wallpaper around his wall. Listening to their music often and feeling off in their music. Suddenly he is spotted by a jazz music teacher and asked to play for his band in some college competitions. Here the journey begins. The teacher is strict and gives that boy a very hard time in his band, but eventually, that boy gets over it and practice more to be perfect. He is happier that he is got selected in the band and guided by the best teacher even though his methods are harder than others or we can say the hardest.
The best part I like about the movie is that even though the movie is based on jazz music, you will never feel left alone. The movie does not have a fascination with jazz music but it is more about music, dedication, and devotion about the music. The way to express it may be different and the boy and teacher have both their way to do that.
The boy is a regular drummer, but as soon as he gets the opportunity to get into the practice for the band, he becomes happy like he never before. He wants to become perfect then. Later he becomes obsessive about his position as drummer in the band because there are other drummers too. In one of the scenes, he becomes so obsessed to play a part in a band that in one the completion he met with an accident while traveling. The scene is intense and shows how much he want to be part of it. After this incident, the boy’s parent file a law suit against the teacher, and he got fired from the school. The boy also stop playing the drums and settled for ordinary dreams like others. One day he met that teacher who is working with some other band and heard the tragic story of how he got fired from the school. The teacher asks him to play a drummer in his new band as the drummer's position is not filled up yet. Listing all this, the boy really gears up and started practicing again. They are ready to perform on the stage now.
On the day of the performance, suddenly the teacher started with the tune which they never practice or the boy never heard. The teacher whispers in the boy’s ear that he knows, it was he who complained about him in the school. The tune finishes, the boy could not play his part and got disappointed, this is how the teacher completes his revenge. The boy started to walk and his father gave him a big hug outside knowing how bad he would have felt. Suddenly the boy started walking back to the stage, sits down on the drummer’s chair, and started playing solo without intimating anybody, he started giving the clues to the other musicians as he is playing along. The teacher is also got shocked and starts to stop him, but the boy would not. Later at some point teacher also gets involved in his drumming so much that he actually started guiding him and start over the whole show again with the best drum played by the boy. That is the end of the movie. The tune they play at the last was ‘Whiplash’.
This is one of the prettiest endings I have ever seen. The movie ends there at a song but the wish to be a great drummer will never. It is a new start for a bond between two musicians which were happened to be poles apart from each other. They perform like never before. The teacher always wanted to witness the greatest drumset as he heard from the greatest drummer in the past and he is spending his life to live that dream, finally, his dream is coming true when the boy plays the drum which he never played before, He was never that fast before, he was in perfect rhythm, he was not dragging nor dropping any beat. When both of them indulge in the music they forget what they have done to each other, they happen to be in the moment of that music where they both see in each other what they are looking for, for a long time. They have a smile of satisfaction.
There are movies which show the dramatic lives of the artist, their fame, their failures and we seem to enjoy it. The Whiplash is different than all those movies, here music is the story of the movie. Sometimes we forget to appreciate the musicians which make us believe in the music. We only focus on what we see in the music industry, but we forget to appreciate the talent and efforts put by the musicians to make the music melodious. They are the soul of the music.
The movie is not only about music but it has a great philosophical edge. The teacher said once that “ There are no two words in the English language more harmful than `Good Job` ”, what he means by that is, he would never be able to hear the greatest drum’s performance ever, so he has to keep saying ‘good job’ to every other drummer for rest of his life. When you have a dream to chase, there is nothing to stop you to get close to your dream. It may be your practice, it may be to whom you are dealing with, it maybe you are in good hands or not. But when ultimately when the time comes, you just throw yourself, let come out of you what the best is, beyond your limits and this is all for you, only you. This is a real joy, and for that moment if you don't have anybody to celebrate with, if there is nobody to appreciate you, that is just fine. You are happy with you, just you!
