The opening-night premier at Sundance was terrific with a 28 year old director Damien Chazelle with his first creation Whiplash debuting. The movie tells the story of an ambitious jazz-drummer prodigy who bumps up against an intimidating tyrant of a music 
teacher. While Miles Teller plays the mentee, the bald, bad-ass mentor is played by J.K. Simmons. Simmons played a cruel taskmaster who bludgeons his students with torrents of mocking, often homophobic in his mission to create true genius. He was effortless and excellent in his performance. Whiplash won a Sundance price for Best Short film last year. It was as a small sample created to woo the potential investors to produce the movie. And, this year it got a prime Sundance showcase is a great tribute to Chazelle’s crew, and an honor to the festival’s spirit. Sony Pictures picked the distribution rights for some international markets.
