I finally got around to watching the movie Whiplash last night. I had been putting it off since I’d heard from several fellow jazz musicians that it was not based on any kind of reality. But, hey, it’s Hollywood, so what else is new??
Unfortunately I ended up agreeing with the assessments of my fellow musicians regarding the believability of the relationship between Fletcher, the sadistic jazz band director and his students, especially his freshman drummer Andrew. Even though I have encountered LOTS of music teachers and professors in my musical travels who were very strict or were carrying a chip on their shoulders, I think the role of Fletcher was portrayed way over the top in terms of spurring his students on through insults and abuse. No music teacher would have gotten as far as he did with that abusive character and attitude and no self respecting students would have put up with that kind of behavior.
Also, I really don’t think the director (Damien Chazelle) or the composer (Justin Hurwitz) are true jazz fans or aficionados. There are some obvious sections, most notably at the end when Fletcher is actually CONDUCTING Andrew’s big drum solo at Carnegie Hall, which simply don’t happen in the real world. All of these things put together made watching Whiplash an enjoyable experience, but unfortunately it was for the totally unintended humorous aspects of the film. It sure had potential as a story, but it fell upon the sword of it’s own incredulity.