The stars align to make Whiplash an Oscar shoe-in

It may have been written and directed by a man still in his 20s, but Damien Chazelle’s sleek and unassuming Whiplash flows like the work of an industry veteran. The indie picture is both an exercise in restraint and a tour-de-force in filmmaking.

This film plays out like a freeform jazz piece, opening with first-year drumming student Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) at the kit. He bangs the drums at a frenetic double-pace but much like the picture itself, is always in time. A figure walks thought the door of the studio and listens in. Who is he? One person who does know is 19-year-old Neiman.

The film avoids the regular conventions of the music prodigy movie. No booze, no drugs, no sex. No clearer is this than when we see Neiman break up with his girlfriend early on in their relationship, because she was simply holding him back. “I want to be great. I want to be one of the greats,” he states, trying to give reason to his cold departure.

Whiplash is a story of teacher and pupil, of father and son. Except for Neiman, the role model figure at the center of his universe is not his biological dad (Paul Reiser), but his school music teacher, Terence Fletcher. Possibly the closest character in demeanor to Fletcher in cinema history is drill sergeant Ermey, from Full Metal Jacket.

Fletcher conducts a studio band at the Shaffer Conservatory, “the best music college in the country”. He’s cruel and unforgiving, but his methods work. The class wins the same national music competition every year. The pair want to experience greatness in equal measures, but they need each other to find it.

There are two pivotal scenes where the humanity in seen in Fletcher, one where he speaks to his friend’s young daughter and one in which he plays a schmaltzy blues riff on the piano. He himself is not a great jazz player, but he knows one when he sees one, and he sees that greatness in Neiman.

Fletcher’s methods are at times horrific, brutal, and frankly, illegal. But Chazelle consciously refrains from inferring whether his punishing attitudes to teaching are perceived as inexcusable or not. That is left to the viewer to decide.

Teller is ideal for the role of the regular, likeable teen character and he has a big future in front of him. Paul Reiser is superb as the supportive, loving father, the antithesis of Terence Fletcher. But the standard star is Simmons, who has previously played the Reiser-like role so effectively in Juno and Up in the Air. He transforms into Fletcher with such conviction that he turned the picture from likeable indie success to box-office Oscar smash, which is credit to the casting.

From the moment we hear the kick and snare of the drum kit, the tempo does not stop rising. The picture continues to build right through to the final 15 minutes, where we are met with one of the highest-octane finales in cinema this year. Whiplash is one film to go watch at the cinema.