MANILA, Philippines — The Grand Jury Prize: Audience Award winner at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Whiplash, depicts an unusual teacher-student relationship.
The film opens as 19-year-old drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) practicing when he notices that somebody is watching him.
"I'm looking for players. Why did you stop playing?" asks Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a teacher and conductor in Andrew's music school.
Next thing he knows, Andrew is already the "alternate" drummer of Fletcher's jazz band. The first time he practices with the band, Fletcher hurls a chair at Andrew for playing "not quite my tempo," as the conductor would say.
"Were you rushing or were you dragging?" shouts Fletcher at Andrew.
This incident pushes Andrew to spend more time practicing the drums to the point that his hands bleed. He then stops dating Nicole (Melissa Benoist), the counter girl at the movie theater, because she would "stop" him from fulfilling his dream.
"I want to be one of the greats," Andrew says.
Only his second film, director Damien Chazelle did a brilliant job in Whiplash. Just as when a scene appears to be calm, there comes the sudden turn of events.
The film ends as Andrew plays the drums but in a completely different circumstances compared to the opening scene. Would Andrew reach his dream?
Watch the trailer below.