Number 22…

Of all the teachers I’ve had in my life, I’ve always find myself talking a lot about my acting professor in college, Professor Kathryn Gately.

Of course, part of that is a bit of bragging (she did after all have students such as Amanda Seyfried and the late James Gandolfini), but one moment in time during a class stuck out to me.

I was on stage rehearsing, and she asked me a question that I had no idea the answer to. My mind went into its normal defense mode and just stayed silent, hoping for her to say something. She didn’t, and after what seemed like the longest two minutes in history, I realized she was patient with me, letting me think out my answer. I am always grateful to her for that.

She also was one of the most intimidating people I ever met, having us do 100 jumping jacks because one of my peers yawned. She threatened us saying next time it would be 100 laps around the building (it never got to that, but we knew she was not bluffing.)

This is what made Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash so effecting to me, as well as I imagine any aspiring artist who tried to further their studies. Granted, it could easily be said that Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), an talented young jazz drummer, did not know what he was signing up for when he encounters Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), the jazz director from hell (which is still understating it). No other teacher/coach character in film history detests participation trophies, as far as I know.

Talent is indeed a factor in the journey of an artist, but what Whiplash (an all time favorite of my co worker Gabe) reminds us is that no amount of talent can save you with out refining it with practice. I think it was one of my band directors in HS (one of which, understandably, refuses to see this movie) who said it best: You will play the way you practice. He did not say that everything else has to be put on hold if you want to be the best, including (as Neiman discovers), a budding romance.

Along with 2013’s The Spectacular Now, this movie is what shot Miles Teller into the spotlight. Still, there is no way of overlooking the powerhouse of the film that is J.K. Simmons. Once a wonderful character actor, be brings icy venom to every second he is on screen, resulting in one of the century’s most obvious Oscar wins.

The film does seem to end on an ambiguous note, but it is the right note. We don’t get to see the aftermath of Neiman’s life, or what his journey has cost him. All we know is that he finally caught up to Fletcher’s tempo (so to speak). In the end, that is one of the main goals of any student/teacher relationship.

Along with staying on tempo, and not getting a chair hurled at your head.

(As of this writing, Whiplash is available to rent/buy on Amazon