The Company

Films/DVD Asylum

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The Company is Robert Altman's latest film. I had heard about this some time ago as the film in which actress Neve Campbell brought to Robert Altman a screenplay she wrote in collaboration with another writer. He read the screenplay, and told them that it was interesting, but that he was not the director for the project. He changed his mind, and from what I have read, directed the film from something of an autobiographical point of view which shows a little of how he works.
Neve Campbell "stars" as a ballet dancer with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Apparently, she studied at National Ballet of Canada before she became an actress, and does her own dancing. I put stars in quotations because this is really an ensemble movie, and while her screen time is more than most of the other players, it is not significantly more so. Malcolm McDowell stars as the manager of the ballet.
The film is not about any particular ballet dancer, but rather about all the different elements of putting together a ballet, those elements being the dancers, the choreographers, the set designers, the businessmen, the manager, etc. You see the process from concept, to funding, to development of the piece through practice, through, finally, performance. It was fun to watch what sounded like a tacky joke when proposed became something, dare I say, beautiful. While you can differentiate the real ballet dancers from Campbell, she does a very credible job on the stage.
Altman does a very good job of mixing in romantic drama with the process of the ballet, and with the production, that you never feel the film lost focus. Unlike other ballet films I have seen, you actually get to see entire performances, rather than snippets of performances. The focus of the film is on the process.
I am not a ballet aficionado, and came in without much knowledge. What struck me was the lack of emotions often displayed. There was one scene in which the star ballerina snapped her achilles tendon. There was little consternation, no tears shed. Others looked on knowing that her career was over, and that it could happen to them. You saw the fear in their eyes. She was taken off the stage, and the practice went on. Bring in the new ballerina. A typical film would have had people crying, and plenty of drama. Altman simply moved on.
The other scene was of a young prodigy being told that he was not good enough for the performance. He was going to be replaced. It was as quick as that. Too many films of ballet and dance focus on one or two dancers, and the film is a drama of their stories. If you have any interest in the creative process, and how cruel it can sometimes appear, this film is well worth seeing.

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Topic - The Company - jamesgarvin 08:44:27 03/04/05 (1)

Re: The Company - warrenh@optonline.net 20:47:19 03/05/05 (0)

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