The Company

[puppytreats]

My studies in ballet continued this week with more reading and a viewing of "The Company." My significant other has been mystified but moderately amused by my recent focus on the ballet. He has been supportive -- buying me tickets, planning to take me to (and sit through) the ABT performance of "Giselle" next Monday, driving me to see the NYCB Balanchine celebrations (he sat that one out in the car), admiring my leotard and tights, and twice attending an art exhibit related to the ballet. However, he also mockingly dances to my DVDs and begs me to turn off the poor White Swan at night. Nevertheless, I did not hear any of his typical snores during the entire first hour of viewing of "The Company", and the next morning, he remarked that choreographers must be geniuses. He actively admired the dance sequences. This certainly amounts to strong evidence of the power of ballet.

I was not really moved or enlightened in any significant way by this movie (other than by the reaction described above.) I do not know if that resulted from the lack of character development, the absence of any compelling character, or the style of directing. Indeed, I felt like I watched this movie many times before, in other settings, because it followed the director's typical approach. The ready ability to replace the individual was a disturbing lesson, but it was not developed enough. Maybe subtlety was the point, but I am not sure. As presented, this lesson did not produce much empathy or pain. The injured simply did not seem to suffer much, which I thought was unrealistic. I am sure this would be devastating. The movie seemed more interested in displaying broad brush strokes and playing up the camp in such characters. I hope I am not being too critical or hurtful in making this remark.

I admired most of the dancing. I would love to be able to perform the dance in the suspended sling/swing and would like to know more about it.

I would appreciate commentary particularly regarding the dances in the movie.

[SandyMcKean]

Allow me to suggest that your reaction likely has much to do with who directed the movie: Robert Altman. Many, including me, consider Altman to be one the greatest directors of all time, but others dislike his work intensely. Altman often does not go where an audience would expect. His film making point of view is more as an observer rather than as a craftsman who carefully leads his audience thru the story and the character's emotions. One either likes that or one doesn't.

I am reminded about the first time I saw what has become my all time favorite movie: Gosford Park. We went with friends to the theater. My wife and I were totally captivated by the film, but our friends thought it was one of the worst movies they had ever seen. They were totally bored, but we were on the edge of our seats. True, the movie is not easy to follow, and where our friends saw nothing, we saw such depth that we went back to the theater the very next night to see it again (the only time I can remember I've ever done that).

[Helene]

Here are two older, sometimes meandering threads on "The Company":

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/11245-robert-altmans-the-company/

[dirac]

Altman's output was inconsistent. Even in his prime one good film was often followed by a turkey. As is noted in the threads linked to by Helene, "The Company" was Neve Campbell's project, not the director's; he was a gun for hire, although it has plenty of Altmanisms as you noted, puppytreats.

The ready ability to replace the individual was a disturbing lesson, but it was not developed enough. Maybe subtlety was the point, but I am not sure.

I think subtlety was the point, but I agree that it might have been a little too offhand, and the momentousness of the change could easily be missed. (I liked the scene in "Black Swan" where Natalie Portman is late for rehearsal and we register her distress when she shows up, breathless, to see her rival dancing in her place and making quite a good impression.)

[puppytreats]

"Altman often does not go where an audience would expect. His film making point of view is more as an observer rather than as a craftsman who carefully leads his audience thru the story and the character's emotions. One either likes that or one doesn't."

His point of view was clear, but made me feel like an uninvited voyeur. Why was I looking at these snapshots? Was I permitted or invited to do so? Why should I care about the people in the series of photographs? If an observer is so distant from his or her subjects, what generates the observer's interest?

I agree that Altman's films are consistent in form and style but inconsistent in result.

[SandyMcKean]

The threads on "The Company" (from 2004) that Helene supplied were much appreciated by me since 2004 was before my time on BT/BA.....so I had never read them before.

Frankly, I am always amazed when the folks, who typically don't like Altman films, complain that there was no plot, or that they were bored waiting for something to happen (as was said several times in those threads). If you're looking for a film with plot, then I don't recommend Altman; but if you're looking for fascinating 3 dimensional characters caught in "the act of life" rather than simply caught by a camera, then Altman may make most other films seem boring to you (yes, the one's with plots ). Altman films have 10 layers of life happening all at once....not easy to grasp in a single viewing (especially dialogue), but his films normally reward you time and again on multiple viewings as you peel back onion layer after onion layer. And his humor!.....(well, OK, often a bit cynical, I'll admit)

As always.....to each his own.

P.S. It just occurred to me to wonder whether my life, at this precise living moment, has a plot?? Maybe I'm just waiting for something to happen.

[diane]

P.S. It just occurred to me to wonder whether my life, at this precise living moment, has a plot?? Maybe I'm just waiting for something to happen.

I like that. ^^

Now I want to see this film.

One thing that has often bothered me with "dance films" is that they have too much of a "plot", whereas all I want to do is watch the dancers.

Definitely - to each his own!

-d-

[SandyMcKean]

Obviously, this thread has gotten me thinking about the movie The Company (which I last saw maybe 5 years ago). After our interchanges here, I starting wondering what the critic community thought of the film at the time of its release. I did a quick check using Netflix as an "index" into such critic articles.

As it is likely to be expected when it comes to an Altman film, The Company got mixed reviews......but the majority were positive, some strongly so. I've come to rely on Roger Ebert over the years, so I read his review in detail. He said something I thought was particularly germane to this discussion (and quite thought provoking in its own right). I wonder what others think of this statement:

"I know that this movie reflects exactly the way he works -- how he assembles cast, story and location and plunges in up to his elbows, stirring the pot. With Altman, a screenplay is not only a game plan but a diversionary tactic, to distract the actors (and characters) while Altman sees what they've got." Roger Ebert 12/23/03

[Anthony_NYC]

While I'm generally an Altman fan, he lost me on this one. But I wonder if it's worth revisiting. I thought "Nashville" boring and pointless when I first saw it, then watched it again years later and it was obviously a great movie. Has anybody given it a second go and changed their mind about it?

[puppytreats]

P.S. It just occurred to me to wonder whether my life, at this precise living moment, has a plot?? Maybe I'm just waiting for something to happen.

I like that. ^^

Now I want to see this film.

One thing that has often bothered me with "dance films" is that they have too much of a "plot", whereas all I want to do is watch the dancers.

Definitely - to each his own!

-d-

Sometimes dance movies seem like the plot is an excuse to showcase the dances. The plots are artificial and silly. I am bored by this formula. I watch the movies to see and learn about the dances, but would like to care about the characters, and learn about the dancers or the lives of dancers.

What I learned from this movie was that dancers drink beer a lot, which I really doubt. Mr. A advised, "Fish, brocoli, salad," which is what my trainer says, but I am a vegetarian, so how will I ever get the dancer's body? I am left bereft. Maybe this is why I was so negative about the movie.

I presume that parents subsidized the main character's home, because a cocktail waitress/dancer could not afford that lifestyle. Or did I miss something?

From the linked discussions, I fear that no one seemed to like the swing dance, but I loved it. It really reminded me of pleasant times during my childhood - the feeling of being free, of floating, of being suspended, which I believe dance can evoke, but which was amplified by the swing.

[dirac]

Frankly, I am always amazed when the folks, who typically don't like Altman films, complain that there was no plot, or that they were bored waiting for something to happen (as was said several times in those threads). If you're looking for a film with plot, then I don't recommend Altman; but if you're looking for fascinating 3 dimensional characters caught in "the act of life" rather than simply caught by a camera, then Altman may make most other films seem boring to you....

It’s not necessary to be one of those who “typically don’t like Altman films” to note that all Altman pictures do not achieve the desired effects consistently. Some thought that was true of “The Company.”

@ AnthonyNYC: I saw "The Company" again on cable awhile ago and didn't feel much differently - some very good sequences, some indifferent, disappointing in the dance department. But then I was sorely disappointed by "Nashville" and my poor impression did not change with another viewing. Altman's virtuosity is never in question but I often question the uses to which he put it.

[Quiggin]

I liked the Long Goodbye and The Player, and from the trailer and clips of Company, I think Altman's usual strength of playing the banal against the banal doesn't work when high art is part of the mix. The onstage scene with the dancers in a pas and the string of balloons floating lengthwise in a sort of visual counterpoint disadvantages both images.

The use of the letterbox or 2:1 format may have been a mistake - it takes too much in at once that Altman can't control and muddles the visual narrative.

McDowell's performance seems too broad for a choreographer - more like a theater producer out of a Kaufman and Hart play.

[Ed Waffle]

puppytreats wrote:

Sometimes dance movies seem like the plot is an excuse to showcase the dances. The plots are artificial and silly. I am bored by this formula. I watch the movies to see and learn about the dances, but would like to care about the characters, and learn about the dancers or the lives of dancers.

I think this is a characteristic (not necessarily a fault) of highly structured genre movies generally. In musicals the plot is there to get the characters from one song and dance number to the next; the plot of martial arts movies is written to be punctuated by fight scenes; horror movie plots carry the audience to the next hair-raising scary scene. While this isn't true of the best films of this nature--I am always entranced during every bit of "Singin' in the Rain" and intrigued by what would happen to Wong Fei Hung in "Once Upon a Time in China"--it certainly seems to be in "The Company." It is more a custom of the trade than anything inherently wrong with the film.

I love Altman--I watched "The Player", "Short Cuts" and "MASH" several times in the theater during their first runs and countless times afterwards (and think Tanner 88 is a masterpiece) but realize that his minor works--"Company", "Gosford Park"--are no more than decent movies that lack the genius of his best.

[dirac]

puppytreats wrote:

Sometimes dance movies seem like the plot is an excuse to showcase the dances. The plots are artificial and silly. I am bored by this formula. I watch the movies to see and learn about the dances, but would like to care about the characters, and learn about the dancers or the lives of dancers.

I think this is a characteristic (not necessarily a fault) of highly structured genre movies generally.

True, but I wonder if that "The Company" qualifies as a movie of this type. The plot is not tightly structured, to say the least, and there's very little in the way of narrative drive pushing the movie forward to the next dance sequence.

Thank you for mentioning "Tanner 88." That was a great show, owing not least to the writer, Garry Trudeau. We should not follow Altman's bad example in giving his writers short shrift....

From the linked discussions, I fear that no one seemed to like the swing dance, but I loved it.

puppytreats, I haven't looked back to see what I thought about the swing dance back when, but when I saw the movie again I got rather a kick out of it.