My rating: 5/10
I have a love/hate relationship with director Robert Altman's films. I loved The Player, a viciously funny insider's look at the business of Hollywood, but I hated last year's Gosford Park, which I felt was a muddled mess of a film, without plot or coherence (and in which it was even difficult to figure out what the characters were saying). Surprisingly to myself, I give The Company a middle-of-the-road overall rating: the dancing is great, but the rest of the film is nothing special.
If you are a ballet fan, or even mildly interested in seeing some top-notch ballet, then The Company is recommended. Nearly half the film shows dancing, both in rehearsal and in performance. The filmed performances provide a perspective that you cannot get by watching ballet from an auditorium seat, since the camera is able to roam up close to and among the dancers. The effect at times is quite magical and mesmerizing.
However, the storyline is nothing new or insightful. Yes, there is a major contrast between the lives the ballet dancers live on stage, when they are realizing their dreams, and the rote, menial day jobs they take to put food on the table (didn't Flashdance cover this same ground?). Another major focus of the film is the head of the ballet company, played by Malcolm McDowell (who's somewhat miscast, as his English accent comes through when he's supposed to be portraying an Italian-American). We get to see the creative process at work in many scenes with McDowell interacting with other members of the company, but ground, too, has been trod many times before (contrast this with the film Adaptation, which showed a truly unique and fresh look at the challenge of creating art).
Neve Campbell does a very credible job in her role as one of the better up-and-coming ballerinas in the company. Her dancing was very expressive, and while I wasn't checking to see if she was able to go `en pointe' like the professionals (her dances probably were carefully edited), it all came across in the final product as very seamless.
I have a love/hate relationship with director Robert Altman's films. I loved The Player, a viciously funny insider's look at the business of Hollywood, but I hated last year's Gosford Park, which I felt was a muddled mess of a film, without plot or coherence (and in which it was even difficult to figure out what the characters were saying). Surprisingly to myself, I give The Company a middle-of-the-road overall rating: the dancing is great, but the rest of the film is nothing special.
If you are a ballet fan, or even mildly interested in seeing some top-notch ballet, then The Company is recommended. Nearly half the film shows dancing, both in rehearsal and in performance. The filmed performances provide a perspective that you cannot get by watching ballet from an auditorium seat, since the camera is able to roam up close to and among the dancers. The effect at times is quite magical and mesmerizing.
However, the storyline is nothing new or insightful. Yes, there is a major contrast between the lives the ballet dancers live on stage, when they are realizing their dreams, and the rote, menial day jobs they take to put food on the table (didn't Flashdance cover this same ground?). Another major focus of the film is the head of the ballet company, played by Malcolm McDowell (who's somewhat miscast, as his English accent comes through when he's supposed to be portraying an Italian-American). We get to see the creative process at work in many scenes with McDowell interacting with other members of the company, but ground, too, has been trod many times before (contrast this with the film Adaptation, which showed a truly unique and fresh look at the challenge of creating art).
Neve Campbell does a very credible job in her role as one of the better up-and-coming ballerinas in the company. Her dancing was very expressive, and while I wasn't checking to see if she was able to go `en pointe' like the professionals (her dances probably were carefully edited), it all came across in the final product as very seamless.