Movie Alert - Altman's 'The Company'

I'm not sure what this about. I believe it's backstage of a Ballet Company as in the eyes of Robet Altman. He happens to be one of my 'must see' movie makers Think: McCabe and Mrs Miller; MASH!; The Wedding; Nashville; and so many others.

It stars Neve Campbell, a Canadian, who used to dance with the National Ballet of Canada before realizing she'd make a better actress. And uses he Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.

Anna Kisselgoff, NYTimes dance critic raves about the movie comparing it to Red Shoes and Turning Point. hmmm. It opens Chrismas Day. Anyone who see it, please report.

Joe

I haven't seen it yet, but the critics all seem to give it 3-1/2 stars. Movie reports on the news have stated that Campbell did such a marvelous job dancing in this, that she was offered a place in the Joffrey. Perhaps that was an "exagerrated" claim, but everyone has raved about her believability. As you mentioned, she was a professional ballet dancer in her younger years.

Since Robert Altman and Malcom McDowell are two of my favorites, this movie will definitely be on my "must see" list. But, alas, that is not likely to happen until it goes to video, so I'm with you Joesitz in encouraging anyone who's seen it to post here ASAP so I can live vicariously!

I can't wait to see this.

It is true that Neve was offered a job with the Joffrey, and she declined, stating it wouldn't be a good career move for her - she mentioned the level of training needed, and that the average dance career ends at 35 (she's around 30 now). I saw reports that Neve originally stopped dancing professionally due to injury before turning to acting.

guinevere
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Funny, Altman, will use a Canadian actress in his movies but I just heard he has joined a long list of directors who refuse to make their movies here in "Hollywood North."

The ironic thing is it's really more Neve's movie than Altman's. She's been prepping this script & treatment for a while. I knew it was in development, but I never thought she'd get Altman as a director! What a coup for her!

I'm really, really looking forward to this movie! I won't get to see it until after the new year.

you can view a trailer, and get additional info here

I've been dying for years for somebody to make a top flight flick about how dance really is. Although Altiman is one of the greats, I've found his work erratic over the last 10 years. I saw the trailer when I went to see "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (definitely a sore butt movie) and I was rather dismayed to see Malcolm MacDowell screaming at the dancers about how they're supposed to do the ballet, where's the ENERGY, etc. etc., and then, without missing a beat, I love you. True, over-the-top choreographers and company directors do that, but I'm rather afraid Campbell's script will be so true to reality that it will come across as unreal. I am sure that the film of the rehearsals and performances will be WOW! I'm just iffy as to whether they can get the interactions between the dancers and those between the dancers and choreographers right for the screen, which isn't the same as right in real life. From what I understand, Neve Campbell is also a producer, so she has a LOT invested in this. I'm not surprised she got Altman. He's always said he'd rather direct 70 people than seven. I'll try to get out and see it. I really missed the Joffrey when they left NY. Much as I love ABT and NYCB, the Joffrey was always the wild child--at least of the big ballet companies. Before they left NY, I always saw the Joffrey before I saw either of the others. But fiinancially, the Joffrey had no choice but to make Chicago their base.

Hope the movie is what I'm hoping for. "Center Stage" sure as hell wasn't, lol.
Rgirl

OT - I just rewatched Center Stage last week. I know it's not a 'great dance movie' but I sure lurves it!! Especially seeing Peter Gallagher, now that I see him every week on the O.C.!!

guinevere

Ladskater said:

Funny, Altman, will use a Canadian actress in his movies but I just heard he has joined a long list of directors who refuse to make their movies here in "Hollywood North."

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And what's wrong with that? It is Neve Campbell's screenplay afterall, so of course Altman wouldn't have anything against casting her in the lead, especially since she is both a qualified dancer and actress.

And I also don't see what's wrong with a director who would rather make movies in the U.S., especially when Canada already has so many productions being filmed there.

I'm a fan of Altman and I loved his last movie, Gosford Park, which I thought was the best movie that year. I hope this is one of his better ones.

For all you dancers on GS, would you say this will be the most serious movie about dance since The Turning Point?

Finally got to see The Company.

It is an Altman film in the true sense of the word. He doesn't mute out the background noises because he is a 'realistic' filmaker. For those who are bothered with the too much noise going on around the main dialogue, then this will be annoying too. One has to work at his movies.

Neve Campbell does a decent job both acting and dancing. She is similar to Jamie Sale in appearance. The Joffrey Ballet is stunning and all I can say is how lucky Chicago is. Malcom MCDowell is a hoot playing the Artistic Director.

The opening ballet is quite good and the costumes come off as nude dancers. Its a Lar lubovitch work. RGirl - He has a lot of lines in the movies besides, and his ballet is like when he's good he's good.

The closing ballet is a strange spectacle which I didn't like but the scene where the dancers are being eaten up was fun.

Inbetween is the real interesting part of what do ballet dancers do in rehearsal, in performance, and after the show is over. No message, in fact, hardly a plot, but would you allow your daughter to live like that?

Bottom line: It's Altman, careful.

Joe

I finally got to see this tonight!

One of my friends with me said that she felt like she had just seen a really good documentary, not a movie, and it does have that feel. The 3 of us who went together are dancers, and we thought it was a very realistic portrayal of dance life, without pumping up the melodrama as a more plot-driven film would; but I don't know how interesting it would be to non-dancers. The "roast" scene was hilarious!!

I had heard that Neve Campbell specifically requested "Blue Snake" (the closing piece) to be one of the pieces performed in the film. I think she saw it when she was a teenager and it had a great impact on her. It definitely looks like it came from the '80s!! I liked the balloon solo in that the best. The piece I enjoyed the most in the film was Lubovitch's "My Funny Valentine" duet (although the raging storm was a but much).

Joe, I have 2 questions for you: Wasn't the opening piece a Nikolai work, not Lubovitch? The one with all the ribbons? And when you ask 'would you allow your daughter to live like that?', what did you see that was objectionable, or of concern? Just wondering - I thought it was a pretty positive look at that kind of life.

guinevere

ps we were all salivating at Ry/Neve's apartment. Pretty nice on a dancer's salary - especially the jetted tub!

Guinevere - It is definitely a documentary like film The opening ballet which I enjoyed could well have been Nikolai. I saw that Lubovich was actually featured in the film and just assumed he had done it. Still, I liked the ballet. As for the Blue Snake, it is probably one of those ballets that grow on me after a while.

I thought much of the life of dancers were shown to be on the gloomy side. I know when I palled around with dancers my world was very limited. I think now in reflection that the sexual scenes were just an overreaction on my part.

I do plan to see again and will watch for the credits more carefully.

Joe

Sexual scenes? I think I missed something...

I'm pretty sure that the opening dance was Alwin Nikolai, and that only the duet was Lubovitch (which makes sense in a way: the Nikolai piece is probably in Joffrey's rep, as the other seen-but-not-talked-about dances, whereas they had to commission Lubovitch and Derosiers to feature their pieces - and them - in the film. $$-wise, they would probably only commission the one piece from Lubovitch)

guinevere

I just read a review of the film in MSNBC Slate Magazine. the wirter was stating that it is close to being a documentary but that Altman gives lots of insights into the joys and pains of the dancer's life citing a number of clues. It's worth a read if you can dig it up. He mentions that The Blue Snake may have been an example of Neve Campbell's life - that is, being eaten up by a snake. Hmmm.

The movie is nothing like The Red Shoes, Turning Point or Center Stage. I'm definitely going to see it again. there is so much I didn't get.

Joe

Guinivere,
I think if you're a dancer, the life the Joffrey dancers have as depicted in this film looks great. The principals and soloists, who get paid more, have decent living conditions, but among that group, we only see Neve Campbell and her boyfriend's, a chef's, apartment. What would Neve be living in if she were living on her own? Also note that most of the corps de ballet were working second jobs. When I was dancing with a professional modern company, we made enough money in the late '70s and early '80s between our salary, unemployment, and extra teaching gigs, that for someone in her early 20s to do what she loved and live in a "bohemian" as some might call it, but decent place was great! I had to stop dancing at 27 because of an injury, go back to school, and go into a whole new field. Where I saw things get into the "would you want your daughter living like that" were the dancers who continued performing with the company I was with unitl their mid- to late-30s, especially the dancers who'd had children. One was 35 and not only still a gorgeous dancer, but a performer with depth and real dramatic skill, but she also had a five-year-old child she had to think about especially in light of the fact that her marriage was falling apart. Her husband was a "techie," ie, one of the tech guys who worked in the theater and he sure didn't make much, so what started out as being able to do what you love, money doesn't matter as long as I can support myself in your 20s becomes something very different when children, health problems, or other factors come into your life in your 30s.

The thing that always strikes me is that elite dancers like the Joffrey are every bit as rare as elite athletes, but because their talent is in a low-paying art rather than a high paying sport, they make about $30k to $50k a year in a company like the Joffrey, being based in Chicago, whereas an athlete with comparable skills--say an NBA, NHL, or NFL player--would be making six, seven, and eight figure salaries and a few would be making even more with endorsements.

Of course it's not just dancers. Gymnasts are now making some many doing exhibitions, but at least in the US, there ain't much money in luging. Anyway, a lot of my dancer friends went to Europe just so they could have a decent middle-class life doing what they did here in literal poverty. ITA with Joe that while my years as a professional dancer were great--we toured to every state, including Alaska and Hawaii, plus Italy and France, which is much different from business travel--it was a very insular world. You're around the same small group of people with the same interests as you all the time. What you gain in intensity of what you do you lose in understanding the many different kinds of lives people live. When I got injured and had to remake my life, I found it wasn't that I lacked in marketable skills--I could type, I learned computers very quickly, I'd had a good university education--I lacked in the skills of capitalism and in knowing how to deal with the wide variety of people you have to deal with in most other work, whether it be business or academia.

I don't regret it and if I had a daughter, or son, who wanted to go into dance, I'd support them completely but I would urge them to take steps to keep their world open. As long he/she loved it and knew what it was really like, stories of which she would get from Mama Rgirl, I say do what you love.

As for Altman's film, "The Company," I think it does have a documentary feel in that it is more concerned with the people than some kind of plot. It reminded me of the Cirque du Soleil documentary series, "The Fire Within," which shows what these performers go through to be in that show. In that way, I think it is very different from "The Red Shoes," "The Turning Point," and "Center Stage." I enjoyed it, but I left the theater wondering if a an actual documentary on the Joffrey or a similar company wouldn't have been more interesting.

BTW, Ebert and Roeper put "The Company" on their list of Top Ten overlooked movies of the year
Rgirl

Rgirl said:

The thing that always strikes me is that elite dancers like the Joffrey are every bit as rare as elite athletes, but because their talent is in a low-paying art rather than a high paying sport, they make about $30k to $50k a year in a company like the Joffrey, being based in Chicago, whereas an athlete with comparable skills--say an NBA, NHL, or NFL player--would be making six, seven, and eight figure salaries and a few would be making even more with endorsements.

Click to expand...

This is something that has always driven me nuts! That and the fact that people will pay more than $50 for cruddy seats to see a mediocre major sporting event, but have a hard time paying $25 to see quality dance (or non-Broadway theater, for that matter). In cities like NY, where people seem to get it that live art is critical, it's not as big of a problem; here in Seattle it's sad. Ok, I'm off my soapbox for the moment.

guinevere

ps RGirl - the apartment was just Neve's. She was living there when she met the boyfriend, he may have moved in after (we don't really know), but she originally lived there alone.

Thanks for the correction about Neve Campbell's apartment, Guinevere. By chance, I got a free pass to see "The Company" again this afternoon--before the snow but when it was FREEZING outside!--and like most Altman large ensemble films, I noticed a lot of things on second viewing I'd missed the first time around--including my mistake about "Ry's" apartment. One thing is that her apartment is right next to the El--Chicago's elevated version of a subway--which is very loud. Another is that the apartment, for all it's interesting design, is still either a studio or loft. Still, that's pretty great for Neve's character, who is a middle level dancer for the Joffrey, but gets a big opportunity to premiere a new duet when the choreographer notices the lead female is working injured. This got me to wondering, how does a mid level Joffrey dancer affor this fabulous living space? For one thing, Ry is shown working New Year's Eve as a cocktail waitress and at least I got the impression that this is a part-time job she regularly holds down. But there was also another scene couple of scenes about the dancer with a one bedroom apartment who can afford it by renting sleeping space and bathroom use to what looked like about six other dancers. It's the place where the dancer who had been staying with his aunt who has committed suicide comes to stay. The dancer who has the apartment talks about the price (either $8.75 or $18.75 a night, I couldn't quite hear) and "You're last in line for the bathroom" (lol). In another scene she tiptoes out from her closed bedoom, where she clearly has company, into the livingroom where the other dancers are sleeping and asks that same guy if he has a condom she can use. I don't know, but maybe that's what Joe was referring to when he said, "Would you want your daughter living that way?"

Those are the only two actual living situations we see in the film. After my second viewing I thought, "How does Neve Campbell's character afford a pretty groovy place even waiting cocktails part-time when other dancers of her level in the company are sleeping on floors?" It's never made clear in the movie, but the impression I got was that Ry's parents help her out financially. Remember the scene when Ry's mother is at her apartment and asks for some wine? (The mom makes a big deal out of Ry having red wine in her fridge instead of white "just like her mother"--hmm, wonder what that line meant.) Anyway, it wasn't anything specific that the mother, father, or either of Ry's stepparents said, there was just something about the obvious expense of at least the renovation of the apartment; the mother's behavior--sort of like she had a right to be there; Ry's behavior with her mother at the apartment (a little abrupt) and Ry waitressing (perhaps trying to get out from under Mom's financial-aid thumb?) that made me wonder about that particular situation in the film. At any rate, it made me think, "What's wrong with this picture?" meaning Ry's status in the company and her Cosmo-girl digs.

Don't mean to dwell on "Ry's Apartment"--it's just that on second viewing, I realized they only showed two living situations--Ry's and the camp-out style apartment--as well as only Ry's part-time job as a cocktail waitress. The first time I saw it I thought they showed more, but of course that's what Altman is so good at--showing just enough details to make you feel as if you've seen a whole world. But believe me, especially the lower level members, ie, the corps de ballet, of the Joffrey or any ballet company in the US only make about $10k to $15k a year, depending on where they're located and the level of the company. I don't know what a corps dancer in a company like American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is making these days--I've been away from the scene for a while--but I think Joe would know. I do know that in the mid-'80s, a couple of friends I had in ABT shared a three bedroom apartment in a pretty bad section of Queens where the rent was $600/month, plus utilities, not to mention the hour commute to their studios or Lincoln Center--and I doubt things have changed much in that area. The ABT people I knew, with one exception (who was married to a man who made real money and lived pretty well) were corps dancers and sometimes made extra money as a featured dancer with what are known as regional companies, such as Miami Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ballet West (Salt Lake City). So why not leave ABT and go be a principal or soloist with a regional company? Some dancers do, but for many, they would rather be in the corps of "the best" and live a threadbare existence in New York than be the big fish in a small pond somewhere else. Also, after your performing years, if you want to teach, your chances of getting a top teaching gig is a lot better with ABT or New York City Ballet on your résumé, even as a corps dancers, than as principal dancer with a regional company.

Anyway, it was the larger picture of a dancer's finances and living arrangements as portrayed in the film "The Company" that I was interested in, and so on second viewing I looked more closely at that.

On second look, the only thing I felt was left out of the versimalitude of the film was at least one raging tantrum from a director, choreographer, or dancer. This may have been because of the union involvement, whichi was definitely not around during my day--in fact ABT led the way in ballet dancers becoming unionized by actually going on strike in the late '70s, early '80s. But smaller companies are usually not unionized because the dancers can't afford it--though it gets complicated because of certain rules involving union scale and being eligible for grants, which I won't go into, ZZzzzzz But in "The Company" the scene where the male dancer is fired on the spot by the choreographer of the giant snake dance (while he's in that red monkey suit--how humiliating!) and the union guy soon thereafter runs in, cries "I'm complaining about this to the union! This is abuse! Harrassment!"--that NEVER would have happened in any US dance company or Broadway show 20 years ago. I hope that at least in the larger companies unionization has had an effect at least like that because even in, or especially in, ABT or NYCB, really horrible things were done to dancers. Scales would be brought into class and the ballet mistress or master (sort of a cross between assistant to the artistic director, daily class instructor, and rehearsal director) grab a couple of female dancers, put them each on the scale, and then say something like, "Jane and Mary are pigs. We hate pigs. I don't want to see anybody talking to or even looking at Jane or Mary until they stop being pigs." Dancers could be fired on a whim and as I said, unless you were a star, dancers were too often victims of screaming tantrums and attacks at them as an individual or group, which they had to just stand there and take or lose their job.

There's a book, "Off-Balance: The Real World of Ballet," which I think is now out of print, but the author did an excellent job of researching and exposing the dark side of all the beauty. I thought it was a very important book especially for young women who had the talent and desire to be a professional ballet dancer. It wasn't meant to change anything, but at least parents and dancers would know what they might be in for. Unfortunately, most books of this kind--"Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" is another one--don't sell very well because most people don't really want to hear it. Also, at least in unionized companies, they can't do things like surprise weigh-ins in front of the rest of the company or verbally abuse dancers like that. One of the more interesting factoids in the ABT dancer's conditions with management was that the very first thing they wanted and a point on which the dancers would not budge is that they wanted it written into their contract that the management had to call them "ladies and gentlemen" and could no longer call them "boys and girls." Actually, the union organizer the dancers hired suggested it as a way of getting the dancers to start thinking of themselves as adult employees getting a salary from management rather than children getting an allowance from their parents. But once the dancers got the idea, they really dug in their heels on that point.

I keep digressing from my second viewing of the film "The Company" to things I recall from real life, but perhaps that's a testament to the accuracy of the movie. The only thing that struck me as an off-note upon second viewing was that the way things worked out for Neve's character, Ry, seemed a bit too Hollywood for my taste. I know the film is not intended to be story driven, but what story there is starts out with Ry being the last to find out that the male dancer she had been seeing was now seeing another dancer in the company. Then she gets the understudy's break when the lead is injured, plus the duet and her performance is a hit, PLUS she performs "courouageously!" during a sudden thunderstorm at an outdoor performance. She has a great apartment, even with the L roaring by outside her window. Then she hooks up with the hot chef and even though they have trouble with finding time to spend a quiet New Year's Eve together, he runs across the stage to bring Neve flowers at the end. I just thought it was a bit much, especially from the originator of the story and cowriter. OTOH, hey, why not write you own happy ending? But to me it comes off as just that, rather than truthfulness. I think I would have felt something for her character if she'd gone through more than just having to waitress in addition to dancing with the Joffrey or if she'd shown some difficulties with her character's personality or left the outcome of the relationship with the chef up in the air. There seemed to be some underlying tension with her mother, but that was it.

But that's mostly a quibble. While I don't think "The Company" is a particularly good movie, I do think that within the Altmanesque genre, it does an excellent job of showing the ballet world as close to the way it really is of any movie any made. "M*A*S*H" had the same nonstory narrative yet still I was drawn in by the characters. Same thing with "Nashville" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" (similar structure). Don't want to try to analyze why I didn't feel it with "The Company," but let's just say that if somebody could combine the realism of "The Company" with either an equally realistic and compelling story or characters that really drew you in, then I think it could be a really great film. As it is, I wouldn't recommend paying $10 to see "The Company" unless you're very interested in dance. But if you want to see some of the best choreography from a variety of styles in dance today and get an idea of the range of music and movement that could be integrated into skating, I would recommend renting it.

FINALE!
For skating fans, the choreographer who made the duet that Neve ended up doing, Lar Lubovitch, choreographed a skating program for Paul Wylie. He did during his last year with SOI. It's to some Bach piano pieces (can't recall which ones) and I thought it was absolutely gorgeous. It certainly showed that great skating programs can be done to Bach. Of course it helps if you've got Paul Wylie, but I can see Michelle, Sasha, Jenny, Tim Goebel, Johnny Weir, Shizuka Arakawa, and of course a number of pro skaters doing wonderful things to Bach with the right choreographer. For example, in the Lubovitch piece for Paul, there's a section of spread eagles where just by varying the arms and alternating straight leg with bent knee spread eagles in just the right way with the music makes it look not just more interesting, but it actually gives it an abstract sense of emotion.

CURTAIN CALL
Can you guess which GSer worked with Lubovitch and another choreographer featured in "The Company," Lauar Dean back in the late '70s? I'll give you a hint Rgirl happens to know the piece very well. The funny thing about the piece Lubovitch did on the company I was with--the piece is called "Sessions"--was that we loved working with Lar, he seemed to like working with us and seemed pleased with the piece, audiences loved it, we loved performing it, and yet about 10 years after I'd stopped dancing I read an article about Lubovitch in which he was asked if there was any piece he'd choreographed that he really didn't like. Well you know which piece he said And no, it wasn't a solo:--it was for eight dancers.
Rgirl