Two things make this movie worth watching: the great acting by J.K. Simmons, and the nice visuals and editing. These, not surprisingly, received Oscar awards.

But I believe the movie fails entirely at its core: music. The story mixes Full Metal Jacket with Shine to represent a bullying music teacher mistreating young students in some supposedly reputable jazz music academy. The whole focus is on the brilliant leading character who becomes obsessed with perfection, and on his lunatic teacher pushing him harder and harder.

The big problem for me is the total lack of credibility. Music, as it is represented in this movie, works like gymnastics where there exists some ideal perfect execution to be obtained by exercising more and more. I think, on the contrary, that (good) music is more like dance, where there is no "perfect execution" but rather it involves taste, sensibility, and different points of view.

An example of this is the song Caravan that is played multiple times throughout the movie. As a fan of good ol' jazz, I have to say I never listened to a worse execution! If you do not know what I am talking about please just search "Duke Ellington Caravan" on Youtube and then compare with this movie: Caravan is NOT about super-speed and perfect timing, it is about mood, swing and atmosphere, all things that seem totally unknown to whoever run the music department for Whiplash.

If you are looking for a good movie about obsession for music I would definitely suggest Shine. If you look for a movie about music as a way to obtain freedom and elevation of spirit (and also some good laugh) there's The Concert. Or try Kieslowski's Trois couleurs Bleu, Mo' Better Blues, or maybe the TV series Mozart in the Jungle. Whiplash does not add anything interesting to the long list of films about music.