Up in the Air

*****

Suspend Your Disbelief and Fly Back Down To Earth


          Sometimes we watch movies that transcend everyday life, and by so doing, are transported to a higher state of art.  Other times, we watch movies that are ‘slices of life’, and by so doing, are better equipped to handle life’s daily lessons.  Every now and then, however, we watch a movie that both transcends and affirms our everyday realities.  This rare occurrence has most recently come to pass with the release of Up in the Air.

Directed by the up-and-coming sensation that is Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno), Up in the Air gives us a timeless story, yet one which deftly mirrors the times in which we live.  The film opens with a sequence of various people being fired from their jobs.  Most of these people end up venting with some valid complaints, but it is the last person who sums it up the best: “Who the fuck are you?”  Immediately, we see a man, who then answers this question through voice-over narration: “Excellent question.  Who the fuck am I?”  We soon learn that this man works for a company, who in turn is hired by other companies to fire their own employees.  In short, this man (Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney) is a despicable character.

Movies have the unique, if somewhat frightening, ability of making unsavory characters likeable.  Whether this is a commendable feat or not, it is still a very impressive and mystifying accomplishment.  For the first half of Up in the Air, it is clearly evident that Ryan Bingham is not only an unscrupulous man, but one who represents all that is cold and detached in modern day society.  Yet somehow, he manages to come across as being charming, charismatic, and even likeable.  This trickery of sorts was successful thanks to George Clooney’s wonderfully subdued performance, as well as Jason Reitman’s outstanding screenplay (adapted by Walter Kirn’s novel of the same name), and taut direction.

Up in the Air is essentially a fantasy about contemporary society.  Since the financial crisis began in late 2007, millions of people have lost their jobs through cost-cutting and downsizing.  With Up in the Air, Reitman combines this real life situation with a slight stretch of human imagination.  I sincerely doubt (or hope) an employee such as Ryan Bingham actually exists in the real world.  However, given how cold our modern day communication has become, his character and job status are not too far off from where we may be headed.  There is a scene in the movie when an employee from a major company in Detroit actually gets fired (or rather ‘let go’, according to the ‘integrity’ of Bingham’s work) through a webcam on his computer.  Even worse than this however, is the location through which Bingham’s co-worker Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) is firing this poor man: the office next door.  Absurd? Absolutely.  Far-fetched?  Perhaps not.

It is this seamless combination of the fantastical and the real that makes Up in the Air a modern day masterpiece.  Reitman’s witty script allows for the movie to breathe on its own, yet at the same time propels the film into a constant sense of motion.  It is the sort of script that Bingham himself would approve of.  As though it were not enough for Bingham to make a living off firing people he has never met, he also gives motivational speeches (of the half-Tony Robbins-half isolationist kind) to help people learn the art of losing human connection.  Bingham’s backwards justification for living in such ‘a cocoon of self-banishment’ stems from his ‘bullshit philosophy’ on the human condition.  According to Bingham, “we must make no mistake about it…living is moving”.  Bingham sees human beings not as swans, but as sharks; the more we slow down, the quicker we are to die.  Fair enough, but instead of moving forward together as a unified species, Bingham feels that human nature was meant to develop more in the guise of a constant stream of individuals.  Reitman’s script incorporates two contrasting aspects that would bring dimples to Bingham’s boyish smile: a sense of confidence in taking time to develop, and a constant sense of motion.  Thankfully, Reitman goes a step further than his anti-hero, by adding a third aspect to his dichotomous thematic material: a balanced set of ideals and character traits.

As original a film that Up in the Air is, it would have been a dreadful bore had it not been for the three-dimensional writing of its two supporting characters.  Early on in the film, we are introduced to Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), who is quite easily (or willing to be) seduced by Bingham’s charms.  Through a chance meeting at a hotel bar, Alex and Ryan slowly develop a casual love affair with no strings attached.  Alex seems to have everything that Ryan looks for, in regards to relationships with women.  She’s smart, witty, beautiful, and best of all, comes with no rules.  She is the mirror image of Ryan himself.  In fact, at one point she instructs him to think of her as merely Ryan himself, "but with a vagina".  It would have been too easy and cheap for Reitman to write Alex’s character as merely the mirrored image of Ryan; as such, Reitman makes sure that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Alex.  This three-dimensional quality of Alex’s character would not have been nearly as powerful, if it weren't for Vera Farmiga’s performance.  Farmiga’s portrayal of Alex is a classic lesson in the ‘less is more’ style of acting.  Farmiga is subtle, quiet, yet fiery when she needs to be.  She transforms Alex into a complex character of open-mindedness and compassion, yet not without her moments of vanity and deceit.  It is a terrific performance, and one which will surely give her an Oscar nomination in February.

The other major role is Natalie Keener, as played by Anna Kendrick.  For the most part, Natalie is everything that Ryan is not: idealistic, romantic, a believer in marriage and true love, etc.  However, in order to keep Natalie from becoming the mere antithesis to Ryan’s character, Reitman diversifies Natalie by instilling within her a variety of personal traits.  At times, Natalie can come across as being naïve and inexperienced, but she can also be tough, zealous, and fiercely independent.  She may be a dreamer, but in many ways she is far more realistic than Ryan when it comes to the art of human relationships.  This cross-section of human characteristics acts as an important counterpoint to Ryan’s stubbornness, and becomes essential to Ryan’s maturity as a human being.  Natalie is the only likeable main character in the movie, and in many ways, the most diverse.  Kendrick works through the motions of her character with seamless confidence.  She allows Natalie to be weak and human, while continuing to infuse her with hope.  Her character in many ways represents the core of the film’s message, and her performance will surely take your breath away.

In this day and age, it is easy to make a film that either negates or glosses over the realities of our troubled times.  At the same time, it is just as easy to make a film that overindulges itself with the struggles of our everyday lives.  Up in the Air manages to stay away from making either of these polarizing mistakes, and instead, creates a funny, bright, yet dark and dramatic mood piece.  It is a sublime masterpiece, and one which fits perfectly with our modern times.  It asks us all to stand up and keep the good fight going, while remaining diligent and realistic with all that must come to pass.  So go out and buy a ticket to see Up in the Air; you will soar down to earth like you’ve never soared before.