Whiplash

I watched a really good film recently – Whiplash, have you seen it? It only had a budget of $3.3 million which, in the scheme of film-making is tiny, and was shot in just 19 days but it's garnering attention. I won't say much about the plot because I don't want to ruin it for you but suffice it to say that there are no fancy visual gimmicks, there's just story. And the story is driven by the two main characters colliding. I've heard lots of authors give talks and the most notable quote about characters that I remember was given by Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher series, who said that plot is like a hire car – it gets you from beginning to end – but it’s the characters driving that car who move the story forward, they’re what/who the reader remembers. And this was certainly true for me in this film. But the film also resonated with me on another level (and it's hard to write about this without giving away any plot!) reminding me that anyone who achieves anything in their chosen field bears the scars of getting there – the knock backs, the fails, the sacrifices, the disappointments, the sheer damned hard work, the hours and hours of practice and the stubbornness of keeping on getting up each time you fall down and trying again. These scars may be invisible to those watching from afar but everyone putting their head above the parapet to try carries them and so deserves our admiration. If you get the chance to see Whiplash, do, it's an excellent story.