Before she caught the acting bug, Neve Campbell had designs on becoming a world-class ballerina. She trained with National Ballet School in her native Canada for years before injuries forced her to hang up her ballet slippers and head to Hollywood. The acting thing has worked out well for the 30-year-old Campbell. So well, in fact, she was able to co-write and produce “The Company,” her own cinematic love letter to ballet. Even more impressively, she landed the venerable Robert Altman to direct this no-frills look at the daily life of a high profile ballet company — the famed Joffrey. Altman, of course, is the regnant maestro of the ensemble film, and he orchestrates this rhythmic stunner with delicate precision. But the ensemble here isn’t stocked with famous actors, rather actual members of the Joffrey company. Altman plays the role of detached documentarian instead of hands-on skipper, letting the elements of professional dance — rehearsal, performance, blood, sweat and tears — be the narrative. If it weren’t for the presence of a breezy Malcolm McDowell as the company’s multiloquent director, the film would be devoid of any Altmanisms (whenever Altman needs to verbalize something, he does so via McDowell). The complete and refreshing lack of the usual dance troupe drama requires audiences to pay attention to the myriad little things going on. The little things are what make “The Company” so special. Well, those and a stirring pas de deux between Campbell (as a rising star named Ryan) and the Joffrey’s Domingo Rubio that takes place outdoors as a storm rolls in. It is simply the most beautiful onscreen dance number this scribe’s ever seen. Campbell is better in “The Company” than she’s ever been, holding her own with the pros from the Joffrey. When she isn’t dancing, she’s carrying on with a laconic young chef (James Franco). It’s much better when she and her troupe are dancing, though. When they’re dancing, this is a beautiful movie. (Rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language, some nudity and sexual content. Running time: 112 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 6, 2004. Read the original PDF.