Whiplash - d/ Damien Chazelle (2014)

 
First, am not a movie buff - so, am far behind when it comes to movies. I intentionally keep it that way, since a man has only so much time for hobbies. As such, here I am, having watched Whiplash, seven years after its release, trying to come to terms with it, having chats with a dyed in the wool movie buff, who thinks that the movie was stellar, and a Jazz aficionado who's highest praise is - "it has its moments" ( high praise from a snob, if you ask me :) )

Here's the catch - the movie buff is right in a general way. Any great  has sacrificed a lot to reach where he or she is. It can be the bird aka Charlie Parker, Virat Kohli,  John Bonham, or Lionel Messi. I think there would've be instances where they made hard decisions, hurting people around them to various level, in their single most pursuit. I think I can understand that. When Andrew scorns that his cousins only play division III football, whereas he aspires

Becoming the greatest musician of the twentieth century would be anyone’s idea of success,

                    the lines are very clearly drawn. Even when breaking up with Nicole, while admittedly when pushed, his confessional cannot be termed filled with empathy on the reasons for his breakup. I think to anyone who is not an out and out jazz fan, there premise for evaluating this movie is based on the sacrifices that one makes towards greatness - sometimes reaching the levels of fanaticism. For all of them this is a great movie.

Then there are the absolute jazz fans. They can nitpick and show so many cracks, that once shown, cannot be set aside too, at least for me. The Jazz aficionado mentioned, shared this, to stress his point - and yes, there are cracks in the movie - but only when the average dude like me is informed - not otherwise.

I watched Joker recently, and I was not overly impressed, finding it implausible in certain instances. The movie buff friend was at my throat over this. I think this is the very reason I can understand the jazz aficionado. If you think that there are no cracks, this is what my jazz lover friend shared - and I concur, a true jazz loyalist has enough reason, such that he cannot but see the cracks. Thus, the absolutist too is right in a precise way.

This takes us to the general question. Can there be any art which uses some discipline for its artistic use ( license ? ), which the experts in the field will not see the cracks in ? Recently a physician friend of mine found loopholes in a work in forensics - which, the lay reader in me, did not catch. Hence, this is a topic for discussion. Do experts usually find enough to disagree when any discipline is taken as a topic for artistic expression ?

And me ? Not a movie buff, and just a jazz enthusiast who cannot leave his rock leanings, even if threatened at the point of a gun, it remains a great movie. No, the above video hasn't discounted any part of the impression that the movie made on me. 

Genre: Psychological Drama
Rating: ****1/2