The Company

Grade: A-

If only Robert Altman had directed the film version of “A Chorus Line.” Now THAT would have been interesting. Here, Altman leaves behind the “Turning Point” vision of dramatic life amidst the backdrop of a ballet company, and instead focuses directly on the backdrop. The film is almost the essence of the anti-drama, so real and observational that we are literally made to feel we are eavesdropping on the lives within the company.

Neve Campbell (of “everybody want to be, closer to free” fame) is radiant as a company member on the verge of becoming a primary dancer. We watch her life less through dialogue and more through momentary glimpses pasted together – working as a cocktail waitress to support her chosen career, missed New Year’s celebrations with her boyfriend, the toxic mother, stepfather and father who all appear as a threesome in tow to every performance together, the boyfriend (nicely underplayed by James Franco) with a career every bit as important to him as hers is to her.

This is a film of such keyhole moments – of staff meetings brought to abrupt ends by a glorious yet nimble-witted diva of a company manager (the absolutely magnificent Malcolm McDowell), dancers living from one apartment floor to the next, neophytes struggling under the pressure of Svengali-like mentors, careers ended in an instant with nary a lapse in the rehearsal process, and a quietly understated sense that this is a world that has been blighted by an epidemic. If we never get to know any one person fully, we leave the theater instead comprehending the very essence of a dance tribe as a whole.

And then there is the dance, a great deal of it, and it is wonderful to behold. Altman knows how to film dance, capturing the grace and excitement of movement without the obtrusiveness of overt camerawork. Watching this troop repeatedly performing on a stage speaks more to character motivation than any words within a screenplay. It is truly for the passionate, all-encompassing love of a thing.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0335013/