After the script of D. Chazella fell into the notorious āblack listā in 2012, no one could predict the phenomenal triumph of his short film āObsessionā, which became one of the hits of the Sundance festival of independent cinema. The tremendous success allowed the young filmmaker to present to the public in the full-length film āObsessionā (2014). Reviews of the tragicomedy telling the story of the formation of a young musician with the magnificent J.K. Simmons as a teacher-fanatic, extremely laudatory. Rating of the picture according to IMDb: 8.50. The tape received the Golden Globe and about 40 more awards and 60 nominations. A touching, lively and energetic, at the same time incredibly powerful story-a battle between an uncut block and a sculptor-sculptor takes place against a backdrop of fantastic jazz rhythms.
Producer
Debutant in the big cinema D. Chazell managed to create an incredible film. "Obsession" (2014, USA) compares favorably with similar projects with its accuracy and amazing accuracy. Even if the tape was dumb, it is still understood and loved in any corner of the globe. It is worth noting that music plays an important role in all of Chazellās copyright projects. His first painting, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, is dedicated to the trumpeter, The Solemn Finale, scripted by Damien, tells the story of a pianist.
From Whiplash (2014), the energy of promising Hollywood, from the times of young Scorsese, Bogdanovich and Coppola, blows when the budget of the film, but the true talent of the director, decided everything. The distinguishing features of the project are youth and drive. The writer and director in 2014 was not thirty, and judging by the film, he is damn talented. Damien Chazell and his creative team managed to create a camera, while significantly revealing, interesting and accessible movie, for a modest by today's standards budget of $ 3,300,000, without advanced special effects and superstars.
Exemplar
Many film critics are inclined to regard the project, despite the entire fleur of the āindependentā winner of Sundance, as a bright injection to modern Hollywood, a great example of what a real film should be like. āObsessionā (2014) reviews are positioned as a demonstration of a sharp clash of characters, a conflict of personalities, the concentration of talents, not capital and technological achievements. The author's proposed yet another version of the difficult, sweaty and bloodstained path to success, the notorious American Dream, turned out to be several times more spectacular than the bright, but flat plots of recent comic book films that were in demand.
An exception
At the same time, it is very difficult to believe that Jason Bloom, a producer known as the lord of evil spirits and ghosts, is directly related to the Oscar story of a musician who put peace of mind, personal life and love on the altar of self-improvement. Nevertheless, the film and television company Blumhouse Productions played a key role in the appearance of the brainchild of Damien Chazell on the screens. At first, a seasoned producer believed in the idea of āāthe 18-minute short film of the same name, after which he recommended that the author take up work on creating a full meter. As a result, Bloom became the producer in the final version of the tape. In this example, it can be clearly seen that Blumhouse is far from a frivolous company. If necessary, she will swing at the Oscars, or rather, will open the audience to those who swing.
Only jazz!
Reviews of the movie āObsessionā (2014) characterize the project as saturated with fantastic music, filled with indefatigable energy, containing such an amount of passion and obsession in different semantic shades of this term. While watching, the music literally permeates, causing an effect similar to the presence at a powerful concert of the orchestra. The tape is intimidating, while it spurs on (it is no coincidence that the name is literally translated as āWhipā, āStickā), it stimulates, but also besieges those who dream of easily resolving pressing problems. Almost a minute of timing - the battle, the note sounded - the next step. It is difficult to imagine a more driving, lively and complex picture in this genre, so it is recommended that you simply lean back in your chair and get ready to plunge into the world of music. Enjoy, there will only be jazz!
Plot of the film
"Obsession" introduces the viewer to the main character, a student at the Andrew Conservatory, who has been polishing his drumming skills for days on end. He is obsessed with the idea of āāgetting into an elite, promising and successful jazz orchestra led by the obnoxious leader Terence Fletcher. Once Andrew smiles on luck, the door to the world of great art opens before the hero, but it turns out that the young man does not meet the most severe requirements of his new mentor. They are beyond, squeezing out all the juices of life, draining. But, according to the teacher, only in this way can a real star be made from a promising beginner. Another goal is not set by the teacher Fletcher, the character who phenomenally played his role J.K. Simmons, it is for her that drummer Andrew will have to strive, performed by Miles Teller, who suddenly matured and gives out a crazy nerve.
Comparison
Critics in reviews of the movie Obsession (2014) often compared the hero of Teller with the character Natalie Portman from Black Swan, another Hollywood story about the price of success in the artistic field of Black Swan D. Aronofsky.
A lot of attention of cinema experts was paid to the figure of Fletcher himself, the problem of the hero is not even the inability to become a genius himself (this moment the author carefully ignores), but the phenomenal ability to recognize talent, not being embodied, which turns into a real curse. In this aspect, domestic film experts are most likely to compare the brainchild of Chazell with the forgotten masterpiece of the Soviet film industry āSuccessā with Leonid Filatov as a theater director, squeezing all the juices out of the actors to revive Chekhov's āThe Seagullā on the stage of the provincial theater.
The story of overcoming
The world cinema community and especially Hollywood love movies about overcoming. The torment of a hero who doubts that he is able to overcome himself and move on, the process of preparing for the next obstacle, a well-deserved triumph - all this is part of many American films. Sometimes this line is hidden deep inside, hidden under a mass of computer special effects, or, conversely, under the solid gags, at first glance, of frivolous comedy. Sometimes directors choose the most unsophisticated way - exaggerating the idea of āāāobstacle-overcoming-victoryā in sports drama. Therefore, it seems that in this direction there is absolutely nothing to surprise the viewer. It is especially joyful for this that gifted innovators are on this trodden path, as in the case of Obsession. Such a rationalizer of the genre turned out to be a young director, almost a debutant, in a bright creative future, whom I really want to believe. By the way, for the final āduelā Chazella is a separate compliment. She is in the acting and musical terms played perfectly impeccably, without Hollywood sugary and pathos.
Unsympathetic characters
When reviewing the film āObsessionā (2014), the actors and roles of which are best suited for the types, it is difficult to imagine that the same author, two years later, created a bright, loving, instilling love of music and dance extravaganza āLa La Landā. The fact is that the characters of the psychological drama about the creative development of the drummer are not at all as cute as the heroes of the new musical and romantic project of Schallose. They, of course, can be understood, but to take their side in what they turned their lives into is quite difficult. In the Obsession, everyone is unsympathetic and disagreeable to certain spectators - Andrew, who just burned out from the inside, and Flatcher, who acts on the wards only with the help of a whip, lies, humiliation, but who has no idea what life harmony, happiness, and the girlfriend of a drummer Nicole surrendered limply, being one step away from achieving her goal. āObsessionā is the strongest movie, but itās completely incapable of falling in love with the characters.
Actors
Miles Teller thoroughly prepared for the movie āObsessionā. The actor has been playing the drums since 15 years. But, preparing to translate the image of Andrew on the screen, he took lessons three times a week from a professional teacher, the classes lasted four hours. During the filming, he really played to exhaustion, this was required by the director, for greater authenticity. The actor knocked his hands in blood and covered with it more than one drum kit.
Played Fletcher J.K. Before āObsession,ā Simmons belonged to that type of recognizable performers, about whom it is very difficult to say anything concrete. His track record includes a lot of television and film works, but they were mostly secondary or episodic, in the shadow of the main characters. For example, the brothers are very fond of the actor (or already sisters) Coens, they regularly invited the artist to collaborate (āGames of gentlemenā, āBurn after readingā). In the project of Damien Chazella, Simmons completely pulled the blanket not only from Miles Teller, who played the key role of the divergent star, but also from the director himself.
The only noticeable actress in the film, Melissa Benoist (Long Road, Second Chance) created a rather memorable image, she managed to attract audience attention to her heroine, but she was not spectacular in comparison with her male colleagues - she could not.