Director: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons
Expanding his own 2013 short film of the same name, writer-director Damien Chazelle's second feature (his debut, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, was overlooked by the local distributors) is a blistering drama set in the competitive world of a music conservatory.
Focusing almost entirely on the explosive relationship between a first-year student (Teller) and his manipulative mentor (Simmons), Whiplash features a dazzling display of jazz drumming.
In a star-making turn Miles Teller, who played in a rock band as a teenager, did most of the drumming himself. Attired in black, shaved bald and clenching his fists in a gesture which sends shivers down the spine, JK Simmons is astonishing.
Whiplash is enthralling from the first frames to the final curtain. So go ahead, have a treat.