Review: Up in the Air
December 13th 2009 01:08
Up in the Air (J. Reitman, 2009)
Up in the Air is a gem of a film in that you’ll love it when you walk out of the theater but perhaps your mind will be a bit too focused on your own life to fully appreciate what you’ve just seen. A few hours later you’ll realize you’ve just seen a great film. The next day you’ll realize you saw an incredible film. And perhaps it will just keep growing from there. George Clooney astounds. His performance is perfectly restrained and nakedly vulnerable. This is by far the performance of his career and his character is without a doubt the most complex this reviewer has seen in cinema thus far this year. The layers that unfold are delivered through minuscule facial expressions and his silence rather than words. Up in the Air is the story of a man named Ryan Bingham (Clooney), who lives his entire life in one compact suitcase. He doesn’t carry luggage, he doesn’t carry baggage -- he carries a suitcase. Everything is perfectly placed and can be packed in a matter of seconds.
Ryan thrives on the friendly skies. He traveled 350,000 miles in the past year and has a magic frequent flyer number he’s yet to hit. Ryan flies from city to city, town to town firing people he’s never met before and will never meet again. His company is hired out by bosses who are unwilling or unable to fire their own employees. The majority of these individuals are non-actors who are really speaking about being fired (Reitman told them it was for a documentary). Ryan is also a “motivational speaker” on the side; his “uplifting message” is to enlighten his audience that they don’t need to be weighed down by people or things. Their “backpack” should be light and free of emotional baggage.
Ryan’s lives by this code until two women uproot his comfortable existence: Alex, a sexy, confident frequent flyer (played by the illuminating Vera Faragima) and Natalie, a sharp, bright-faced 23 year old (played by Anna Kendrick) whose revolutionary idea will not only change Ryan’s job duties but also his entire way of life.
Natalie feels company could be saving tons of money by taking men out of the skies and placing them behind a computer screen. It’s impersonal but practical. When Ryan eats her alive as she faux-fires him, his boss (Jason Bateman) decides he should “show her the ropes”. The majority of the film’s second act consists of scenes with Ryan and Natalie as their extremely different ideologies on life, love and family collide. When Natalie questions Ryan about his beliefs, it’s not condescending or higher than mighty; she simply cannot understand how someone can live the way he does, it doesn’t compute. There are some wonderful scenes with Ryan, Alex, and Natalie and some refreshingly adult and mature scenes between Alex and Ryan. It’s a joy to see how their relationship is portrayed on screen. The film’s pacing is slow and deliberate yet interest never wavers. So much attention is given to Ryan that by the film’s end, we feel we know him through and through. There’s a scene at a wedding (featuring an unreal song by Sad Brad Smith) that is simply breathtaking and perfect example of how much George Clooney expresses without saying one syllable. This pivotal scene should stay with viewers long after.
We’ve seen this story before. We know the story of the closed-off human being with some sort of past that has lead him or her to how they know live their life. We’ve seen when a man or woman is changed by someone or something. Up in the Air goes far beyond this formulaic concept and how it does so is by avoiding predictability. The film takes a turn that may not be satisfying for the viewer but is right for the story. The film’s ending is natural because it is untidy; nothing in life is perfect or perfectly explained.
Up in the Air excels as a film that is all at once funny, moving, gut-wrenching, inherently honest, and relevant for today’s economic climate. It excels beyond the level of simply a good movie, due to its near flawless direction (Reitman), palpable chemistry (Clooney and Farmiga) and all around terrific acting.
Note: The song by Sad Brad Smith will sadly not be eligible for Oscar contention because a portion of the song existed previously, even though the song itself was unpublished. Thus, it cannot be said to have been ‘written for the film’. I doubt I’ll hear a better song this year in the Oscar race. It’s unreal. Do yourself a favor and do not listen to it before seeing the film: you’ll lose some of the impact).
Up in the Air is a gem of a film in that you’ll love it when you walk out of the theater but perhaps your mind will be a bit too focused on your own life to fully appreciate what you’ve just seen. A few hours later you’ll realize you’ve just seen a great film. The next day you’ll realize you saw an incredible film. And perhaps it will just keep growing from there. George Clooney astounds. His performance is perfectly restrained and nakedly vulnerable. This is by far the performance of his career and his character is without a doubt the most complex this reviewer has seen in cinema thus far this year. The layers that unfold are delivered through minuscule facial expressions and his silence rather than words. Up in the Air is the story of a man named Ryan Bingham (Clooney), who lives his entire life in one compact suitcase. He doesn’t carry luggage, he doesn’t carry baggage -- he carries a suitcase. Everything is perfectly placed and can be packed in a matter of seconds.
Ryan thrives on the friendly skies. He traveled 350,000 miles in the past year and has a magic frequent flyer number he’s yet to hit. Ryan flies from city to city, town to town firing people he’s never met before and will never meet again. His company is hired out by bosses who are unwilling or unable to fire their own employees. The majority of these individuals are non-actors who are really speaking about being fired (Reitman told them it was for a documentary). Ryan is also a “motivational speaker” on the side; his “uplifting message” is to enlighten his audience that they don’t need to be weighed down by people or things. Their “backpack” should be light and free of emotional baggage.
Ryan’s lives by this code until two women uproot his comfortable existence: Alex, a sexy, confident frequent flyer (played by the illuminating Vera Faragima) and Natalie, a sharp, bright-faced 23 year old (played by Anna Kendrick) whose revolutionary idea will not only change Ryan’s job duties but also his entire way of life.
Natalie feels company could be saving tons of money by taking men out of the skies and placing them behind a computer screen. It’s impersonal but practical. When Ryan eats her alive as she faux-fires him, his boss (Jason Bateman) decides he should “show her the ropes”. The majority of the film’s second act consists of scenes with Ryan and Natalie as their extremely different ideologies on life, love and family collide. When Natalie questions Ryan about his beliefs, it’s not condescending or higher than mighty; she simply cannot understand how someone can live the way he does, it doesn’t compute. There are some wonderful scenes with Ryan, Alex, and Natalie and some refreshingly adult and mature scenes between Alex and Ryan. It’s a joy to see how their relationship is portrayed on screen. The film’s pacing is slow and deliberate yet interest never wavers. So much attention is given to Ryan that by the film’s end, we feel we know him through and through. There’s a scene at a wedding (featuring an unreal song by Sad Brad Smith) that is simply breathtaking and perfect example of how much George Clooney expresses without saying one syllable. This pivotal scene should stay with viewers long after.
We’ve seen this story before. We know the story of the closed-off human being with some sort of past that has lead him or her to how they know live their life. We’ve seen when a man or woman is changed by someone or something. Up in the Air goes far beyond this formulaic concept and how it does so is by avoiding predictability. The film takes a turn that may not be satisfying for the viewer but is right for the story. The film’s ending is natural because it is untidy; nothing in life is perfect or perfectly explained.
Up in the Air excels as a film that is all at once funny, moving, gut-wrenching, inherently honest, and relevant for today’s economic climate. It excels beyond the level of simply a good movie, due to its near flawless direction (Reitman), palpable chemistry (Clooney and Farmiga) and all around terrific acting.
Note: The song by Sad Brad Smith will sadly not be eligible for Oscar contention because a portion of the song existed previously, even though the song itself was unpublished. Thus, it cannot be said to have been ‘written for the film’. I doubt I’ll hear a better song this year in the Oscar race. It’s unreal. Do yourself a favor and do not listen to it before seeing the film: you’ll lose some of the impact).
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Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Cinema Enthusiast
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
haha sounds like Mad Men.
Seriously though, hopefully this will come around my neck of the woods this Friday because I'd like to see it with Matt before we leave on Saturday to go back home. I have no idea why it is not around here. Although that would suck actually because I really could not go see it right now if I could. So its better this way. Yay! I'm excited. Still keeping my hopes leveled but uncommon amounts of anticipation are threatening to siege upon my wall of defense!
Comment by Cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth