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Oh, yes, "Blue Snake" is almost indefensible, but it's part of the Golden Rule!  He who has the Gold makes the Rules. 

But isn't it weird that she both chose to showcase the ballet and chose to have it mocked?

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The film struck me as an interesting documentary with pointless interjections of "movie scenes". James Franco is a good-looking guy, but what was his purpose in the movie? I would rather have seen some interviews with some of the dancers, and maybe "meet" some of their real-life spouses/lovers and heard first-hand about the dificulties of a dancer's life: the endless class routine, injuries, the brevity of the career, how they mesh their personal life with their dancing. Overall, I liked ETOILES and CENTER STAGE better. At least in the latter, you saw the resolution of some of the dancers' problems. Still, just watching the performance and rehearsal clips in COMPANY was pretty nice.

Would the director of a company stand in his box loudly yelling "bravo" to his employees during the bows? I think he would be backstage, really.

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Would the director of a company stand in his box loudly yelling "bravo" to his employees during the bows? I think he would be backstage, really.

Yup. The real-life Mr. A sits in his regular box, and is known for leading the cheers. It doesn't strike me as seemly, either.

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I agree with Oberon: I too would've been happier had they eliminated Franco's character in favor of real-life loves of the ballet dancers. It would've been very interested to see who they are, what walks of life they hail from, etc.

But then again, I think all I wanted was a documentary anyhow. :shrug: Anything that took away from the REAL story of Ithe Joffrey was just filler time to my mind.

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Oberon wrote:

James Franco is a good-looking guy, but what was his purpose in the movie?

I think he was there for a few reasons:

--A love interest for Ryanne. And the love interest would have to be played by a movie actor since he had a significant amount of screen time doing what movie actors do--deliver lines, react to others, stay in character while all the distractions of a movie in progress are happening around you.

--There had to be a love interest so the movie would appeal to a wider range of potential audience than ballet lovers. Which didn't work, since it has barely been distributed. A case of "It wasn't released, it escaped", although not for the usual reasons.

--There were a few specific scenes in which Ryanne's character was developed a bit in conjunction with him. One was in the bar, where she noticed him, he noticed her, both acted as if they weren't noticing the other. Neve Campbell is able to act as if she knows her way aroud a pool table--nice solid bridge, chalks the first two fingers as well as the cue. The next scene, where Josh surprises her in that palatial bathroom, leads to a bit more of her character--she has danced since she was about three years old.

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I think the reason people may puzzle about Franco's function in the film is that the relationship isn't really developed -- the characters aren't developed, in fact -- they're a couple of nice kids with dimples and that's about all we learn about them. I don't see any pressing need for the love interest would have to be played by a non-dancer, unless they just wanted to get away from the theatre for a bit.

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I don't see any pressing need for the love interest would have to be played by a non-dancer, unless they just wanted to get away from the theatre for a bit.

The reason that the love interest would have to be played by a movie actor (not simply a non-dancer) is the same reason that a someone dancing on stage would have to be played by a dancer. Both movie actors and ballet dancers are interpretive artists. The skill each brings to a work, the training he or she goes through to develop the skills, the very different "look" that works for one and not the other all are reasons why a movie actor plays the love interest.

When done well acting for the screen looks easy. So does singing, dancing or any other performing art. But none of them are easy.

A part of movie acting is repetition--have the same facial expression, tone of voice, posture and gestures on the twentieth take as on the first.

Another part is economy of expression--an actor doesn't have to do much with face when it is going to be projected on a screen 20 feet high.

A curled lip or a slight wink while delivering line may give it two different meanings, neither of which the screenwriter nor director intended.

I am not comparing the level of artistry between ballet dancers and movie actors but only different skill sets and amount of training necessary to achieve them.

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I see your point, Ed, although that wasn't quite what I meant – I was referring more to the love interest -- the character, not the actor James Franco-- being a non-dancer. (Although it wasn't a very taxing role, and I imagine a dancer with some natural knack for acting could have handled it. But since the character wasn't a dancer, the issue doesn't really arise.)

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A Side Note:

I rented The Company on DVD (Thank you, Netflix) and I wanted to let everyone who hated the non-dancing clips of the movie know that there is a "Special Feature" that allows you to view only the dancing clips.

And, Blue Snake wasn't that bad, mainly because of the scene where the company made fun of it themselves. :lol:

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Just saw The Company via Netflix as well, and...let's just say that if I hadn't already lost my desire to be a dancer, that movie would have killed it. Between the awful, prissy AD and the horrifying choreography (even La Vivandière was a strange and ugly mixture that I've never seen before), it makes me hope that the representation of the Joffrey's rep (as well as the personality of the AD) was skewed.

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Upon second watching, I realized that i was literally fast-forwarding through everything except maybe Light Rain and Creative Force. No replay value whatsoever.

And where was the SWAN LAKE? :wink:

Either way, I have a question. i didn't get to see the name of the DVD chapter for this ballet, but what is the ballet that the Ballet Man (that's what I call them because I don't know the real name) mocking Mr. A is talking about when he says, "This ballet is about SEX and DROPPING ACID and SMOKING A LOT OF POT" (not verbatim, but y'know).

I can't seem to find the name of this piece on the Joffrey website.

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The one older member of the company (I forget her name...but she was 43 or something) seemed very...foreward to the director. I am not a professional so I wouldn't really know, but it seems like that wouldn't really happen in a company. I always got the impression that the director got more respect than that. I understand that there is seniority involved and she has lots of pull, but it just seemed a little extreme.

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The one older member of the company (I forget her name...but she was 43 or something) seemed very...foreward to the director. I am not a professional so I wouldn't really know, but it seems like that wouldn't really happen in a company. I always got the impression that the director got more respect than that. I understand that there is seniority involved and she has lots of pull, but it just seemed a little extreme.

The dancer in question is Deborah Dawn. I live in Chicago and was in the Joffrey Nutcracker children's cast for three years and so got to know a fair bit of the company's personalities (I think I had spoken to almost all of the dancers in the film at least once or twice). Anyway, Ms. Dawn's character was something of a caricature in the movie (I read an article about her involvement in the movie a few months before it came out), but the personality wasn't a huge stretch. Because of her seniority and the added fact that she's a really superb dancer, she is very highly esteemed by the artistic staff, and while I agree that she seemed a little more foreward than I would have expected, I've seen her be a bit of a diva at times, so you never know . . . :wink:

Edited by elizzy
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I would like to thank all of you for your review of “The Company”. I was going to rent the DVD tomorrow but decided to read these posts first. I don’t think my 14 y/o DD would enjoy this movie. The negatives seem to far out weigh the positives.

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Guest PheonixTutu

Hey, [thedriver], I would still recommend renting it maybe once to see the dancing. Sure, bunhead made some excellent points but the dancing is very interesting and personally, I enjoyed watching the many rehearsals as well:)

PS-bunhead-I was thinking the EXACT same thing about the apartments. Hehe, how DID Neve's character get a big one all to herself and the rest of those dancers have to board up with like 10 others in one tiny room on the floor? That bugged me a little but whatever;) It's a movie, and I thought it was ok.

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My concern about having my 14 y/o DD see "The Company" is related to the types and number of ballet related injuries shown in the movie. Obviously since I have not seen the movie, I'm basing my opinion on what others have posted. Is my concern warranted?

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Everyone has his or her own threshold, but in my opinion, your concern is not warrented. I can think of three injuries that are shown or commented upon: 1) a muscle strain in the neck (commented on); 2) snapped Achilles tendon (quite sudden, and graphic to the extent that the snap is audible); and 3) arm/shoulder injury, but I can't recall how it happens. There's certainly nothing bloody, no screams or anything.

I'm not sure why it would be a problem for your 14YO to see dancers getting injured?

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If your concern is that your DD will become worried about the injuries associated with dancing, then I don't think that will be a problem. As Treefrog said, two are kinda dramatic, but not very convincing. :rolleyes: It shouldn't be enough to make your daughter worried about injuring herself. Maybe thats not what you were concerned about though. I couldn't really tell.

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