Summary: Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons (actors) appeared at The Landmark in West Los Angeles. Moderated by Greg Ellwood from Hitflix and New York Magazine's Kyle Buchanan. Film synopsis: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, the gripping drama Whiplash stars Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) as Andrew Neiman, a 19-year-old jazz drummer determined to rise to the top of the country's most elite music conservatory. One night, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a conductor equally known for his talent for teaching as he is for the terrifying method of his instruction, discovers Andrew practicing the drums, and the next day requests that he be transferred into his band. At first, Andrew is an "alternate," confined to turning the pages of the "core" drummer, but at the band's next competition, the core drummer's sheet music is misplaced and Andrew gets the opportunity to play. Though the act further alienates him from his fellow musicians, the band nonetheless wins the competition, and he seems poised to become Fletcher's new "favorite son." Andrew's maniacal effort to achieve perfection is further fueled by Fletcher's psychological brinksmanship. The nearer to perfection Andrew gets, the narrower his circle of intimates becomes until he is left only with Fletcher—and even that relationship is jeopardized by the ferocity of Andrew's ambitions. A journey that can be seen alternately as a descent into madness or an ascent to greatness comes to a crescendo on the biggest platform for Andrew's talents—the unforgiving stage of Carnegie Hall.
