Whiplash

TL;DR : Beautiful simple film about a teacher and student. 7/10

I had put this off for weeks, but this had to be done. The movie I will review in this post, as the title suggests, is ‘Whiplash’. This phenomenal film of 2014, which is directed and written by Damien Chazelle, stars Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. Damien Chazelle approached his idea with a minimalistic and clear style, hence conveying the main idea of the film without any ambiguity. Personally, I prefer to watch films with convoluted plots, but this film changed my perception of simplistic films.  The movie illustrates the relationship between a dedicated student, Andrew (Miles Teller), and an abusive teacher, Fletcher (JK Simmons), in such a relatable manner that motivates the audience to strive and push their limits in any task they are driven to and excel in. Aside from beautifully portraying the teacher-student relationship, the movie develops around the life of the protagonist, by exhibiting the interactions he has with his siblings. Often compared with his siblings, Andrew’s efforts and achievements are undervalued by his relatives. Furthermore, the movie also displays his failed relationship with Nicole, his ladylove, due to his drive for achieving recognition from his teacher. This thus highlights his struggle to balance his professional, social, and family life. The following review will evaluate the thematic content and formal techniques used to enhance the experience of the brilliant film.

Whiplash deals with universal themes that relate to most individuals, such as, ‘Seeking Perfection’, ‘Living for recognition,’ ‘Proving your abilities to yourself’ and ‘Perseverance’. As these ideas are witnessed by the main target audience of the film, viewers are able to appreciate the core plot of the picture. At some point in our lives, we have or will try to perfect our abilities beyond our caliber, or at least hope to. This film highlights how much the protagonist persevered despite the familial pressures and extreme criticisms he faced. Seeing the fruit of his efforts, the audience is left feeling the same drive to excel in their individual abilities. Aside from the main themes, the subplots of the films also exhibit themes of ‘failed relationships’ and ‘Achievement comparison’, which also is equally relatable by all. The main message the movie aimed to convey is comparable to a metaphor: A diamond emerges from immense pressure applied to carbon. With less complexities, this movie successfully conveyed the message clearly.

As the film was quite straightforward in terms of plot, not many formal techniques were utilized. Nevertheless, any formal techniques used were executed with justice. The techniques implemented in this movie include: point of view, character development, colors (lighting), sounds, cinematography and dialogue. The film was presented in a biased third person perspective mainly focusing on Andrew’s life. This is seen as the film depicts different aspects of his life more than any other character throughout the movie. This helps us empathize with the emotions felt by the central character.  Character Development of the main 2 characters were phenomenally displayed. At no point in the movie did I feel unsure about any character. Generally, when a character has to be developed in film or literature, there is a template list of aspects one has to cover to provide a holistic view of the character. This includes, familial relationship, social relationship, the nature of the character alone, and his interaction with the antagonist. Also, a vital part of the character development is contributed by the performance of the casted actors. The film succeeded in judiciously treating every aspect of the protagonist as well as the emphatic performance of Miles Teller. In terms of developing the antagonist, the film gave us just enough to know the nature of Fletcher by displaying examples of how he treats his students in several instances of the film. Aside from which, we realize how the character unfolds in the climax when Fletcher addresses why he treats his students the way he does, thus gathering the audience’s sympathy towards him. Judging the performance of J K Simmons, perfection couldn’t be described in any other way. Moving over to the lighting aspect of the film, I felt throughout the movie, common greyish tones were used to depict the mundane life of Andrew and reddish tones when Fletcher abuses his students. There wasn’t much vibrancy in terms of lighting and colors, which added to the development of the character and the emotions in each scene. Moreover, considering the film revolved around Jazz music, the soundtrack of the film suited the movie well. There isn’t much to say about how the sounds were used. In terms of Cinematography, the film angles were accurately directed to guide the audience through Andrew’s point of view, and a third person view of his surroundings. Lastly, the dialogue used in the film was quite powerful and involved a lot of cusses. While many people agree that such language was unnecessary, I differ from their beliefs. I believe that the dialogues involving such language added power and displayed raw emotions of each actor. Furthermore, it helped in building around Fletcher’s character development.

In a nutshell, Whiplash was a beautiful simple film, which I’d definitely recommend to others. Worth a watch.  The movie really moves you with emotions and motivation by utilizing subtle techniques. The story was told fascinatingly and clearly. The actors performed quite well and adhered to their character profiles excellently. Since there wasn’t much sub plots or complexities in the main plot, the film felt quite short but satisfying. On a scale of 10, I’d give it a high 7.

Birdman

TL;DR – disappointing movie, lack of character development, flat. 6/10.

Birdman, a largely recommended and acclaimed movie as of now, was a major disappointment to me. With an idea so rich and visionary, the producers of the film failed to have reached the bar of excellence in my scale. The movie ‘Birdman’, narrates the story of an actor, struggling to regain his glory from the past in his successful film Birdman. The protagonist, in this film, has been portrayed to have schizophrenic tendencies (wherein he communicates with his alter ego, Birdman) and imaginative supernatural powers (such as telekinesis and the power to fly). In addition, the story also describes his relation with his daughter and girlfriend, both of whom work as a personal assistant and an actress, respectively. Furthermore, the writers of the film give light to the lifestyle and regime of the theatre and film industry by introducing a character in contrast to the protagonist, named Mike Shiner. In this review, I will analyse the aspects of the film that could have been improved in terms of execution, and provide reasoning for the several accolades awarded to this film.

Firstly, the film deals with universal themes which connect with every individual striving for success and maintaining family relations in a broken household. Considering the development of the story around the protagonist, this movie also deals with themes like supernaturalism, diabolic human nature to achieve success, and the reality of the film/theatre industry. The picture aimed to illustrate the depth an actor stoops for regaining a once earned fame, and also build the background behind the protagonist and different facets of his life. In my view, the film achieved these aims on a superficial scale without developing the idea substantially. However, if this story was presented as a piece of literature, I’m sure language and literary features would do justice to the filmmaker’s idea.

The film attempts to display the protagonist’s relation with his daughter (assistant), girlfriend, business partner/lawyer, and his co-actor in the play he was trying to stage (Mike Shiner). The development and treatment of these relations were done poorly, as the director alienates the protagonist whilst presenting the entire movie in his perspective as we see his hallucinations. In several instances, the characters seemed to lack chemistry in such a way that individuals seemed to coexist in a setting. In terms of priority, it seems that the filmmaker found the already highlighted schizophrenic tendencies more important than character development.  The father-daughter relationship was suppressed by the overpowering actor-assistant relation, thus making what could’ve been emotionally iconic in the movie more cold and professional.  Nevertheless, there were sparks of hope where this was rectified, for instance, during the scene where the protagonist catches his daughter smoking pot, despite spending her sentence at the rehabilitation centre. Also, the cardinal relationship between the actor and his girlfriend seemed underplayed/underemphasised. There wasn’t much shown, therefore not much can be said about the girlfriend. This thus contributes to the problem of underdevelopment of the protagonist.

What saved a bit of goodness in this film was the striking contrast between Mike Shiner and the protagonist. This contrast beautifully addressed several themes and aims of the film, such as, the method of achieving success (Mike Shiner does so by bad publicity, whilst the protagonist strives to achieve publicity for good), and regaining a once achieved fame. In this aspect, Mike Shiner represented everything the protagonist wouldn’t do for attaining success, to the extent that Mike Shiner redefines success in his terms. To Mike Shiner, success was defined by fame regardless if the publicity achieved was for good or bad. Contrastingly, the protagonist defined success by the appreciation he gets from the crowd and the critics. Mike Shiner went to the extent of attempting to rape a co-actress, whilst the protagonist shot himself in a scene to achieve super-realism, which therefore sprouted appreciation. As the contrasts progress throughout the film, it is also seen that the protagonist unintentionally experiences bad publicity when he gets locked out of the theatre in his underpants, which again highlights the theme of strive for success and achieves the aim.

Cinematography though was spot on throughout, the angles, colours, lighting, and shots contributed well in helping the audience envision the scene with the right mood and perspective of the protagonist. What the movie lacked in plot and character enhancement, it achieved in the camera direction that realizes the filmmaker’s vision. Nevertheless, if the filmmaker stroke a balance with all these aspects, I’m sure the movie would’ve been considered a masterpiece.

Lastly, my thoughts on the ambiguous ending: The ambiguity annoyed me more as it added on to the disappointment I had throughout the movie due to the above mentioned aspects. Had the movie been properly directed and scripted with a balance of emotions, character development and depth in plot, the ambiguous end would’ve added an element of surprise, as seasonings would to a salad. The movie had so much potential in terms of what the filmmaker envisioned, but was not executed with justice. If I’d have to rate the movie, I’d give it a 6/10.