TIFF Review: Up in the Air

Up in the Air

OPENING: 11/13/2009

STUDIO: Paramount

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
The story of a man ready to make a connection.

Opening Statement
The third film by filmmaker Jason Reitman (son of Ivan, Juno, Thank You For Smoking) Up in the Air establishes itself quickly as his best film to-date; very impressive, considering how strong his oeuvre is. The man has a knack for turning the simple into the profound, for releasing films timed so expertly with the mental climate of audiences. Up in the Air is a near-perfect balance of lighthearted comedy and bittersweet introspection, wrapped up into social and economical criticism, and received standing ovations during its screening at TIFF. This one is going to turn heads in November.

Facts of the Case
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a “career transition consultant” – he fires people for a living. He lives his whole life out of his suitcase. He travels almost every day of the year. He spends more time in first class on airplanes than in his real apartment which he despises. For him, his home is on the road, in the endless suites of hotel rooms, in concierge lines being catered to. His company gets hired to go on-site and lay off dozens of employees at one time, listening to their moans, their threats, their tears with faux-sympathy and support. In an economic climate sliding further into the tubes, business is booming for Ryan.

He even meets like-minded travelers on the road, like the beautiful Alex (Vera Farmiga), who lives a life as perpetually on-the-move as Ryan. They try and coordinate their schedules to meet up whenever their paths cross for a late-night rendezvous, and Ryan enjoys the casualness of it all, of his entire life. Ryan is happy. All his emotional baggage has been stowed safely away. For him, total mastery of the business class lifestyle is his reason for living—and one day, he’ll even reap the exclusive rewards of logging over ten million miles as a frequent flyer, his scorecard to success.

But when his corporation hires a young hotshot graduate named Natalie (Anna Kendrick) who threatens to “revolutionize” the business by laying off employees via webcam, Ryan takes her on as an unwilling protégé to show her exactly how the job really works—the endless traveling, the tears of dejected and devastated workers losing their entire place in the world. By showing her exactly how isolated and mobile his life needs to be to succeed at his job, and by juggling increasingly romantic rendezvous with Alex, he veers dangerously close to developing real relationships for the first time. Suddenly, the ties that bind everyone else that seemed so onerous—mortgages, families, spouses, children—now act as spotlights, illuminating exactly how isolated he really is.

The Evidence
A marvelously enjoyable film, Up in the Air is a perfect example of how profound and powerful a filmmaker can be when he simply stops and listens to his audience. Here is a film that captures so perfectly so many anxieties, worries, delights and joys in modern America—a struggling economic climate, the constant anxiety of losing jobs and livelihoods, loneliness and alienation, the new emphasis to put career first and family second—all of it wrapped so effortlessly and enjoyably.

In Ryan, we find a man who struggles with his lot in life, not as a “mid-life crisis” so much as a culture crisis. Imagine his representation as an entire generation of American salarymen, eschewing family life and connections, binding ties and baggage in favor of a highly mobile and materialistic lifestyle. For Ryan (and for so many of us today) career comes first, at the exclusion of every other element traditionally embraced by our culture. Traditionally, one worked hard for their house, their family, their children, but for millions like Ryan, today, the work itself is the reward. All the other bits just weigh you down. Consider that for many of us up-and-coming children of Generation X, we are at an age still struggling with financial obligations, debts, immaturity and finding a career path that can support our dreams and aspirations. Flash back thirty years, and by our age, our parents had it all: a house, a career, a family and children, with not a care in the world. It must have been nice.

Up in the Air gets it, absolutely nails this anxiety on the head. If we live a life entirely devoted to the materialistic, to the mobile and modern lifestyle, eschewing the traditional values—what do we have at the end of the day? Ryan is happy as a clam with his life, and his ethos acts as nails on a chalkboard to everyone around him. Estranged from his own family, they have no understanding or appreciation of why he puts distance between them. His young protégé looks at him as if he is from another plant when he sings the virtues of total freedom of bonds. And it works for him, perfectly, brilliantly—right up until the point where it stops working. We watch it happen in a sequence of facial expressions on George Clooney, like bricks slowly tumbling out of a decrepit wall causing the entire thing to collapse. It is a heartbreaking moment.

A brilliant mix of comedy and drama, of loneliness and loss, heart and humility, Up in the Air feels so right, so profound, despite not really saying much of anything. Call it a populist film in subject and delivery; the film manages to speak at length on a variety of critical emotional, social and cultural issues, without really creating any debate on the issue. This is just a simple slice of one man’s life, and whatever we infer or take away from it is ours to decide. There is little challenge here. It is a gentle and kind film with its audiences, never too probing or solemn in its observations or critiques, but this casual approach works extremely well, in part because we can believe it. Ryan lives a lifestyle that most audience members would never choose to live, but in watching his own fiery pride flicker and burn out, his own ethos come heavily into question, we cherish and value our own relationships by proxy. His heartbreaks manifest as our own introspect.

Most films struggle trying to harmonize disparate elements, mixing and matching genres, but Jason Reitman appears to have quite the knack for it. As a writer, producer and director, he seemingly has an uncanny talent to attach to projects that span genres with ease. Up in the Air is equal parts social commentary, spiritual philosophy, romantic comedy and family drama. Like a Benetton commercial, all elements are in harmony. The jokes all land perfectly and are uproariously funny, the family elements are warm and approachable, the introspection never comes close to being preachy or manipulative, and the romance is tender and sincere. Adding to this, Reitman reveals himself as having some serious talent behind the camera. This is a beautifully shot film, full of quirky close-ups and exquisitely framed compositions sure to delight those who appreciate the finer technical elements of cinema.

Clooney delivers a wonderful performance as a man slowly coming into (or out of) his shell. The cool and calculated Ryan we meet at the beginning of the film peels away to reveal a man not unlike all of us—unsure of where his place in the world is, how he will pay the bills, lonely for affection but too proud to admit it. It is a marvelously nuanced performance by the veteran actor, and will no doubt earn him great praise. An unusually reserved Jason Bateman plays his boss, a corporate raider type satisfied with his lot and unsympathetic to his report’s plight. Vera Farmiga lights up the screen as the chromosomal counterpart to Clooney, a female Ryan with no hesitation or reservations. Watching the two fall into love is as satisfying of an experience as even the finest romances can offer. The hapless protégé, played by Anna Kendrick is plucky and spunky, full of big ideas and fresh out of school (as we all were once). By the end, she learns some unpleasantly hard lessons about how the world really works (as we all did). Her performance is quite good; funny and feisty and by the end, just a bit deflated, all very realistic. Small cameo appearances by Zach Galifianakis and the eponymous J.K. Simmons round out the cast nicely.

Closing Statement
Up in the Air captures almost every element about going to the movies that we love, balancing them equally and effortlessly into a single, simple film. Lighthearted but profound, heartwarming while distant, humorous and heartbreaking, you get the idea. The final product is a masterful contradiction, bittersweet and lovely and wholly enjoyable—absolutely one of the best movies of the year.

The Verdict
9/10

• “”>