Up In The Air

Having just garnered six Golden Globe nominations, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air seems to be going through the roof. Kimberly Gadette offers up a few theories of flight.

Presenting Ryan Bingham, a folk hero for the Teflon set. A man who celebrates the streamline, preferring the clean anonymity of hotel rooms, rented cars and cozy cabins in the sky to the mess of any home, not-so-sweet, home. A man so committed to coasting through his days unencumbered by the flotsam and jetsam of life that he is bent on becoming the youngest, and seventh, person to accumulate ten million frequent flyer miles. Empirical proof that he will indeed "fly free" – both monetarily and emotionally.

Perfectly played by George Clooney, Ryan is a corporate downsizer who offers a unique third-party service – he will travel first class to businesses all over the country, acting as the veritable firing squad for employers who don't have the stomach to fire their own personnel. Armed with a termination packet and a few slick phrases extolling the virtues of the opportunities that come with unemployment, Ryan rhapsodizes about the chance "to go back to your dreams" and "if not for you, do it for your children." Children who probably won't be all that proud of their newly-fired parents who can no longer provide basic food and shelter.

Given the punishing news that he deals out on a daily basis, it's no wonder we frequently see Ryan looking up, or out, to the wild blue yonder. His skies are more than friendly – they're an escape from the misery down below. But his plans are suddenly rerouted by the arrival of two women: Anna Kendrick's Natalie, a newly-graduated whiz kid from Cornell with marketing ideas that look to upset Ryan's status quo, and Vera Farmiga's Alex, a bold, sassy woman whose beliefs about commitment mirror Ryan's own. Does Ryan suddenly feel a desire to get close to another human? It's a delicious irony: if he wants a lover who's just like him then, by that very definition, he can't have her.

Filmmaker Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking) has done it again, giving us smart-mouthed characters who are, in effect, our designated drivers navigating through the labyrinth of our modern cultural wasteland. They may be more articulate than us, but it's a welcome fluency: they encapsulate our shortcomings and reflect them back in savvier, funnier packages. We are not only understood, we are elevated – due to the crackling screenplay, as well as Reitman's deft directorial touch.

Rather than go into a lugubrious back story about why Ryan is so pathologically frozen, we get a few hints as he takes time out from his duties as a corporate grim reaper to attend his sister's wedding in a blue-collar town in Wisconsin. But at its heart, it doesn't matter what created the Ryan of today: he is us, struggling through our issues, our push-me-pull-you sensibilities about love and family and obligation. Wanting it all and wanting nothing ... at the very same time.

The performances are dazzling. Kendrick's rendering of the straight-laced Natalie's sudden breakdown at an airport (where else?) is a comic gem. Vera Farmiga, so dramatically stunning in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, plays the sleek femme, self-assured and oozing sexuality, the epitome of the hot, modern woman unafraid to kiss her twenties goodbye. All that and funny, too. Not many women could match Clooney's onscreen charisma – she accomplishes the task beautifully.

And then there's the star, Mr. Charisma himself, who could have simply skated on his polished exterior, relying on his go-to charm and humor. But Clooney, as directed by Reitman, allows Ryan a subtle, real depth. We see it when he opens the door to his icebox of an apartment and his shoulders sag. We see it when he's alone, allowing the alienation to wash over him. We see it in his clumsy attempts to emotionally support his sisters, having to rely on words that don't fit well in his mouth. And, as always, Clooney makes it look spectacularly easy.

Up in the Air is the perfect film to close out the first decade of the 21st century. Technological advances have created hermits of us all, our heads bent over smartphones, blue-toothed in the face, our eyes fixated on screens, our facebook friends too numerous to count. Do we even know them? Do they know us? The more devices we accumulate, the easier it is to let the tangible slip away. It's not just Ryan who's cushioned in clouds, insulated from the human condition. It seems these days that we're all somewhat up in the air.

What a wonderful film. And what an important wake up call – whether that call comes from the computerized hotel operator, or the loved one who's crowding your side of the bed. Again.

Rating on a scale of 5, 5-star hotels: 4.75

Release date: US: 18 December 2009; UK: 15 January 2010
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Screenplay by: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Based on the novel by: Walter Kirn
Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynskey, Amy Morton, J.K. Simmons, Zach Galifianakis
Rating: US = R; UK = 15
Running time: 109 minutes