What a treat to have a new Robert Altman movie gracing the big screen. \The Company,"" which is currently playing at Westgate Cinema, is a hugely entertaining fictional look behind the scenes at the Joffrey Ballet Company.??The idea to make the movie came from Neve Campbell, who stars and is one of the producers.??Campbell said in interviews that her first love was ballet, and she turned to acting only after injuries sidelined her career as a dancer. This is a movie she has been trying to make for the last few years.
She had the smarts to enlist the services of screenwriter Barbara Turner (""Georgia,"" ""Pollock"") who fashioned a script based on her observations of rehearsals of the Joffrey Ballet based in Chicago.??Campbell's smartest move, however, was to nab Robert Altman-the iconoclastic director known for his sprawling ensemble movies. It turns out to have been a perfect choice.
The movie opens as the dancers arrive for rehearsal. Malcolm Macdowell, the only actor besides Campbell in the cast (the rest of the characters are played by actual members of the Joffrey Ballet) has a funny schtick as the ballet company's director.??He gets laughs when he refers to the dancers as his ""babies,"" and at one point he critiques a rehearsal that has just taken place by saying, ""You all look like you've got a load on your backs.""??
There are dance sequences throughout the movie, intercut with scenes of the dancers joking, drinking and massaging their aching feet. The theme of the movie is that behind all of the beauty onstage there is the human element of the dancers themselves. The graceful perfection they strive for is contrasted with the physical reality.??
One of the best scenes shows a female dancer rehearsing on the day of a big performance. As she stands on her toes, there's an audible snap, and she immediately falls to the ground. She is out for the count. But the show must go on, and she is replaced immediately.??
Altman, who is 78, shows his filmmaking instincts are still as vital as ever.??He shows no signs of aging in his directing here. ""The Company"" has a youthful exuberance and seductive energy to it that would seem more suited to a younger director. Altman is clearly at the top of his game. The style of the movie is offhand and casual, as if Altman were saying, ""Look how easy this is."" There is no clear story to speak of, but the pleasures of the movie come from Altman's strength in developing a story through details.??
Because of the offhand quality that Altman brings to the material, it is likely ""The Company"" will not find much of an audience (most Altman films don't, with the exception of ""M*A*S*H,"" ""The Player,"" ""Gosford Park"" and a few others).?? It is a shame, because ""The Company"" is without question one of the most entertaining movies in a long while.??
