Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Films for 2014: #84. Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash

Published on February 21, 2014

Whiplash

Director: Damien Chazelle
Writer(s): Damien Chazelle
Producer(s): Nicholas Britell, Right of Way Films’ Helen Estabrook, Blumhouse Productions’ Couper Samuelson
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons

From the get-go, Sundance’s opening film became the “it” item of the 2014 edition proving that Whiplash was solid, dynamic, dramatic material on paper, in short form and finally has a full length feature. Look for Damien Chazelle, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons to all receive award-season mentions.

Gist: Simmons portrays a brutal jazz orchestra teacher who unloads his frustrations on a novice drummer (Teller) who begins to lose his humanity in his quest to become the core skins pounder of the top jazz orchestra in the country.

Release Date: It premiered at Sundance and has yet to be named for another fest…which means this could potentially find a slot for the Sundance film that travels to Cannes for its international premiere.

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).