Whiplash

Oh man where do I begin. This is first and foremost one of the most incredible films I ever watched. Watching this for the first time back in high school was such an unbelievable experience. This film made me realize just how incredible of a story filmmaking can give you. Up until that point I never really watched amazing classic movies, I was too used to the high budget Hollywood blockbuster. Everything about this film blew my 16 year old mind at the time. Just everything. The lighting, the story, of course the music, but most importantly the cinematography. I had never seen a film that looked like this up until that point. I never realized just how important and beautiful cinematography could just be. All of the camera movements and the narrow focal length lenses were just so mesmerizing to watch. And still now. My god the meticulous panning in the final scene. I love all of the pickups of all of the instruments and the sheet music that were edited in everywhere. This adds so much character and ambiance to the scene and the characters. My god the editing of this film is some of best I've ever come across, and not just in the music scenes. The scene of Niemen's first class was one of the most tense and nerve-racking scenes I've watched, and that was all built up because of unbelievable editing. The frantic cuts, the awkward pauses, created such a tense atmosphere in the room. I could feel Fletcher's wrath from the couch. This film was such a benchmark film. Watching this film now, it wasn't as novel or transient of a experience of course, because I know exactly what happens, but fuck this film is so good. I think I feel like this because I'm so exposed to the film, mostly with all of the memes. I sort of became desensitized by the greatness of JK Simons. JK gives the performance of a lifetime. My god. His delivery with all of his lines were just absolutely perfect. He plays the villain role so dominating well. He is fucking scary, also his biceps and arms add to his menacing aura. This is one of the most convincing Oscar winning performances I've ever seen. I think this film really propelled Chazelle to be as great as he is. This film solidified himself as a modern great, and ultimately this film gave him the notoriety to get the money to make La La Land.