Main Cast: Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco, Barbara Robertson, William Dick, Joffrey Ballet
Release Year: 2003
Country: DE/US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Robert Altman directs the musical drama The Company from an original story by actress Neve Campbell, based on her own experiences with The National Ballet of Canada. At the center of the ensemble cast is the young dancer Ry (Campbell), a rising star with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. She struggles with the demands of being a dancer while supporting herself as a waitress and starting up a romance with Josh (James Franco). Meanwhile, the ballet company director, Alberto Antonelli (Malcolm McDowell), manages to balance his own administrative and artistic duties. Campbell does her own dancing in the film and the rest of the company is played by the actual members of the Joffrey Ballet. The Company was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
From its opening avant-garde ballet performed to atonal electronic music, it's clear Robert Altman won't make The Company (2003) just another dance movie. With star and trained ballerina Neve Campbell taking her unobtrusive place among the Chicago Joffrey Ballet corps, Altman deftly reveals how much dance is the primary force in dancers' lives by relegating the genre's usual melodramatics over cutthroat competition and the rising star's choice between her career and her love life very much to the sidelines. With his over-the-top theatrics, Malcolm McDowell's flamboyant ballet maestro "Mr. A" is the only performer allowed to chew the scenery, but even his behind-the-scenes machinations and merciless judgments about dancers' roles and abilities underscore the power of the terpsichorean calling. Altman's lyrical camerawork in the ballet sequences showcases Campbell and the rest of the company to radiant effect, filling in the drama left out of the documentary-style off-stage scenes. Though some viewers might be frustrated by the attenuated backstories and deliberate avoidance of interpersonal histrionics (while Campbell and James Franco are charming together, their romance barely registers), those who simply want to see a skillful and graceful merger of dance and film will find much to enjoy in The Company. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Susie Cusack - Susie; Marilyn Dodds Frank - Ry's Mother; John Lordan - Ry's Father; Mariann Mayberry - Stepmother; Roderick Peeples - Stepfather; Yasen Peyankov - Justin's Mentor; Kevin Scott Greer - Ballet Enthusiast
Credit
Craig Jackson - Art Director, Jocelyn Hayes Simpson - Associate Producer, Pam Dixon - Casting, Susan Kaufmann - Costume Designer, James Giovannetti, Jr. - First Assistant Director, Robert Altman - Director, Geraldine Peroni - Editor, Jane Barclay - Executive Producer, Sharon Harel - Executive Producer, John Wells - Executive Producer, Hannah Leader - Executive Producer, Stefan Jonas - Executive Producer, Dieter Meyer - Executive Producer, Jonas McCord - Executive Producer, Roland Pellegrino - Executive Producer, Van Dyke Parks - Composer (Music Score), Gary Baugh - Production Designer, Andrew Dunn - Cinematographer, Pamela Koffler - Producer, Robert Altman - Producer, David Levy - Producer, Joshua Astrachan - Producer, Neve Campbell - Producer, Christine Vachon - Producer, Karen Bruck - Set Designer, Peter Glossop - Sound/Sound Designer, Neve Campbell - Screen Story, Barbara Turner - Screenwriter, Richard S. Lederer - Second Assistant Director
The Company is composed of stories gathered from the actual dancers, choreographers, and office staff of the Joffrey Ballet. Most of the roles are played by real-life company members. While there are small subplots involving a love story between Campbell's character and a character played by James Franco, most of the movie focuses on the company as a whole, without any real star or linear plot. The many real-life stories woven together show the dedication and hard work that dancers must put in to their art, even though they are seldom rewarded with fame, fortune, or even a statue, painting, or album on which to look back.
Development
The Company was an idea of Campbell's for a long time – she began her career as a ballet dancer, having been a student at Canada's National Ballet School. [2] Altman was reportedly reluctant to take on the directing of the movie initially[citation needed], but later relented. After filming was concluded, Campbell was offered a position to dance in the company, but turned it down due to injuries and a desire to keep acting[citation needed].
Reception
Elvis Mitchell called the film "enjoyably lithe and droll" and attributed a "great deal of the film's appeal" to McDowell's performance, while noting the film "doesn't stick with you as a whole."[3] Eighty-three of the 120 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes rated the film as "fresh."[4]Roger Ebert gave the film a 3 and-a-half stars out of four, and Slant Magazine called the movie the best movie of 2003. Box Office Mojo reported a worldwide box office of $6.4 million, less than half of its estimated $15 million budget.[5]
