Up in the Air

A few words about “Up in the Air.”  Great movie.  A little bit too much fluff but not afraid to delve into the heavy stuff either, which is always a plus for me.  I went in not expecting too much, maybe a kind of existential film about the transience of modern technological life.  I was pretty much wrong.  Sure, if you’re determined to take that away from the film, it’s possible, but there’s much more to see here.  The first thing that should have tipped me off was the director, Jason Reitman.  The man has gained an astonishing reputation in a short amount of time, most recently wowing us with both Juno and Thank You for Smoking.  His movies tend to take real-life issues that we all face (for instance, corporate greed and unexpected pregnancy) and make them somehow more real, more relatable in the face of the human beings we witness dealing with them.

Up in the Air takes as its subject the much larger issue of human connectivity, yet somehow narrows it down further than any of Reitman’s previous films.  Clooney puts in a memorable performance, starting out as the kind of man we all have come to see him as: the suave and swaggering gentleman who makes aging look good.  But the film takes him through a journey that strips away that confident outer layer and lets us see the vulnerable self beneath, one that even Clooney’s character did not know was there.  It’s a gratifying journey, to be sure, and one that has its interesting bumps and roadblocks.  The witty dialogue and repartees littering the film don’t come across as overbearing here, since the words are truly part of the characters, evidencing a façade that so many of the characters really believe in.

The supporting cast really does their job here as well, furthering Reitman’s reputation for creating a colorful background of characters.  Yet here also he seems to have refined his art, for Vera Farmiga’s character, Alex, is the most grounded and realistic of any of them.  Her interactions with Ryan start out as the cliché dalliances of men and women in the hotel room world, but evolve into a complex web that ensnares the viewers as well as the two characters themselves.  She has important things to say, and stands alone as a character in herself…something that many supporting characters cannot say.

Anna Kendrick is also outstanding as Natalie, if more caricatured than her costar.  Her part here was well appreciated, a rookie with passion who reveals to herself and her mentor Ryan as well that the life they have both signed on to live is one lacking in substance and ultimate meaning.  I can’t count the number of times I heard the phrase “What does it mean?”  And as one individual asks Natalie, “You graduated top of your class and left for Omaha to travel around the country firing people?  I can’t even imagine that.”  Thankfully the film avoids becoming overly sentimental and preachy, not giving a clear and neatly packaged answer to the question of meaning.

What the film really brings home is the tragic split between perception and reality in the life of a man who is about to achieve his ultimate goal.  It’s a sharply realized depiction of his freeing yet sobering realization that there’s more to life than “being turned on by corporate status.”  And yet it is a realization, most gratifyingly, that he doesn’t immediately take to heart because he doesn’t quite know how to.  This central ambiguity sits well with the characters and plot of the film, refusing to give in to the logical Hollywood third act conclusion.  In short, it’s a film that appeals to its modern-day audience without pandering to it, and with the support of some veteran actors at the top of their game, it truly takes flight.