The Company

Robert Altman's sketch of Chicago's Joffrey Ballet offers a well-filmed attempt at a portrait of a dance company. The film works best when it offers slices without introduction, when characters drift in and out and things happen to them without comment. The flaws become evident when structure is imposed upon the film in the form of Campbell's character's story, such as it is, which follows a fairly obvious arc. Also among the more unfortunate choices is that of the dances included. While what is there is shot well, the dances aren't always that interesting (especially the "climactic" dance towards which the second half of the film builds). Re-edited, it could have been an interesting fly-on-the wall look at the ins and outs of a ballet company. As it is, it seems to be unwilling to challenge the audience with a series of vignettes, instead offering Campbell as a sympathetic character to follow throughout the proceedings. And that's too bad. For while Macdowell is great, Campbell is not, and Franco is mere windowdressing. Still, I enjoyed it (I'm a sucker for films that give a behind the scenes look at something). You can read other ideosyncratic reviews here.