Whiplash

New episode of The Cineflek podcast with Ryan Daniel just dropped! Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and bump this up to a 5. This movie is just Damien Chazelle and JK Simmons going balls to the wall the whole movie, both absolutely mesmerizing in different ways, but Chazelle's directing perfectly framing and enhancing Simmons' performance. JK Simmons' Fletcher is endlessly fascinating. While at times he is pure evil, but I believe at times he has good intentions in that he is trying to bring the best out of his students. You can see in the scene that he is crying over the death of a former student, that he genuinely cares about him. Could it have been an act to further toy with his current students? Absolutely, but I think it's more likely he wants to find a true prodigy to carry on his legacy. Damien Chazelle seems to come out fully formed in the film that launched his career. On a tiny budget, he's able to create a tight story, that isn't lacking in any way. From the first shot until the very last, the tension is building. He directs this in a completely different style than La La Land, opting for fast cuts and close-ups, and not letting the story drift at all from its singular goal. I had a great time recording this podcast, I really hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think! :)