Altman lands on his feet with 'The Company'

Friday, February 13, 2004

By Barry Paris, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"I learned to act by watching Martha Graham dance, and I learned to dance by watching Charlie Chaplin act."

-- Louise Brooks

	'The Company' Rating: PG-13 for mild language and sexuality Starring: Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago Director: Robert Altman

"The Company" Robert Altman keeps these days is the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, and we have an invitation to their celluloid dance. It's a deliriously beautiful ball, visually and viscerally -- a carnival of movement and the creation of it.

Every art form takes a toll on its artists, but none is more grueling than dance. In no other artistic enterprise does the biological clock tick faster or more cruelly. Nor, except for a symphony orchestra, is there another art medium in which the collective is greater than the individual.

That is why this material is so perfect for Altman, whose controversial, innovative pictures almost always sport large ensemble casts rather than one or two "stars."

Still, you have to have a primary focus. In "The Company" it's Ry (Neve Campbell), striving to measure up to her artistic as well as romantic yearnings. She and non-dancer Josh (James Franco) are becoming an item.

Among many other items in the troupe, the singular and most high-profile one is artistic director Alberto (Malcolm McDowell), loosely based on the Joffrey's real-life co-founder, Gerald Arpino. He's the epitome (and caricature) of his breed, everything good and bad in an impresario, bursting with ideas -- a smarmy, inspirational, scheming bundle of contradictions.

"There are three things to remember!" Alberto lectures his ballet masters. "Budget, budget, budget!"

The story -- as opposed to "plot" -- involves the company's mounting of a complex new work-in-progress called "The Blue Snake." Opening night is approaching, but the work is still so "in progress" that the dancers have yet to hear any of the music! All they have to work with in rehearsal are some rhythmic ideas and the hilariously over-the-top verbal "conceptualizations" spouted by choreographer Robert Desrosiers.

Will it be ready in time for the opening? Will it be the disaster everyone fears? Will it be cursed or blessed by the unpredictable injuries to which dancers are so vulnerable?

Do we care? Yes and no. We, like Altman, are concerned about them and their on- and off-stage issues to a degree. But we, like Altman, are more concerned and fascinated with the sheer ecstasy of the dancing.

I have never seen a more gorgeously filmed pas de deux than the "Light Rain" sequence (choreographed by Arpino), shot during a wonderfully cooperative storm. Exquisite, too, are the recurring theme and four different dances to "My Funny Valentine" (choreographed by Lar Lubovitch), gaining layered poignancy with each variation.

Altman makes some wicked fun of this universe, even as he celebrates it. He would not be true to form if he didn't. From "M*A*S*H" to "Nashville," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" to "Three Women," "The Player" to "Gosford Park," he immortalizes every cultural phenomenon he sets out to capture.

It is an amazing body of work, unlike any other American director's, covering an amazing range of subjects and subcultures. His ensemble acting, improvisational dialogue, and multiple soundtracks are unique -- especially here, where much of the talking is done with the feet. His attitude and endings are often cynical. Something softer is in store for you this time. Altman has been counted out more times than Richard Nixon. He's been down, but never out. Perhaps, at the tender age of 79, he's even peaking. In any case, film historian David Thomson's estimation of Altman is right: "No one else alive is as capable of a dud or a masterpiece." And I think "The Company" is closer to the latter.

Barry Paris can be reached at 412-263-3859.

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