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12
E X T R A
Up In The Air
Nat Horne
****
At the beginning of every year,
as the film community becomes
swept up in the excitement of Oscar
season, our cinemas exhibit more
of those films that the critics would
deem ‘important’. Often dealing
with modern social issues, these
films are praised for being not only
exciting and dramatic, but particularly
relevant to the lives of the
audiences watching it. Ten years ago
we marvelled at American Beauty, a
film that painted an all too familiar
portrait of contemporary family
life. 2005 gave us Crash, which effectively
showed us that we are still
struggling to get along together as
a society, and two years ago we had
No Country for Old Men, a cold,
haunting tale of violence and our
inability to understand it. Due to
the rather unsettling ‘economic climate’
we live in today, it was only a
matter of time before a film as great
as Up in the Air came along.
Directed by Jason Reitman, Up in
the Air is a study of Ryan Bingham
(George Clooney), a corporate
downsizer who flies around the
U.S. delivering those messages of
misery, handing the newly unemployed
guidance packs on how to
rebuild their lives. On his travels
he encounters frequent flyer Alex
(Vera Farmiga) and begins one of
those ‘casual’ relationships with her.
Bingham enjoys going through the
effort of actually visiting these people
and firing them face to face, so
when young hotshot Natalie Keener
(Anna Kendrick) shows up with a
plan to cut costs by downsizing over
a video conference feed, naturally
he feels threatened. Bingham
decides to take Keener on tour with
him so she can get the first-hand
experience of what it’s like to tell
people they don’t have their job any
more.
The persistent theme of unemployment
is one that will resonate
with audiences the most. This is
truly a ‘film of the time’, with Reitman
actually asking non-actors
who were affected by the recession
to open up in front of the camera.
As a result, these scenes have genuine
emotional depth, and we feel as
if someone is prodding us, saying,
“Hey, this is actually happening to
people, aren’t times harsh?”. That
prod, however, is always more
touching than annoying. Up in the
Air is just as much a character study
as a social commentary, though,
and the film’s screenplay fleshes out
Bingham as a sad but funny, condescending
yet charming, 21st century
man. He only spends fourty-three
days a year at home, and holds
that rather unpopular philosophy
that a man is better off alone,
best demonstrated by his business
speech in which he asks workers to
imagine filling a backpack with all
the items and people they love…
and then to try and walk with it.
Sure enough, the two women that
come into his life challenge this philosophy;
Bingham starts to develop
feelings for Alex and his romantic
co-worker Keener tries to persuade
him to pursue this relationship.
The ‘life lessons’ that the opposing
characters put forth in the dialogue
may seem a little contrived for
some, but as we can all identify with
such themes, they are constantly
offering food for thought as the film
progresses.
Up in the Air features what is
possibly the best ensemble performance
of the year. George Clooney
might not be remembered as being
one of the greatest actors of all
time, but he is certainly one of the
most reliable. Critics are heralding
his performance in this picture as
the finest of his career, and whilst I
would disagree with this analysis (O
Brother Where Art Thou? by far),
Clooney does bring that trademark
screen presence and charisma to the
role, imbuing Ryan Bingham with a
rather touching sense of loneliness
and misunderstanding too. Vera
Farmiga also impresses as Bingham’s
female counterpart (nicely
illustrated when she tells him “think
The Founder | Thursday 11 March 2010
Film
of me as you, only with a vagina”)
but the stand-out performance in
the film comes from Anna Kendrick.
Playing Bingham’s apprentice
with a stern assurance, tight-lipped,
always wearing a suit and a ponytail
and doing her duty with efficiency,
Kendrick provides us with one of
the best portrayals of an ambitious
woman in the workplace we’ll ever
see. She creates a character that the
audience cannot help but support,
combining cute with confident,
making it all the more effective
when her character does start to
show signs of insecurity due the
cruel environment she has chosen
to be part of.
This is also an impressive feat for
Jason Reitman. A keen social commentator
(corporate greed in Thank
You for Smoking, teen pregnancy
in Juno), Reitman’s third film has
an interesting simplicity to it. The
film displays a variety of beautiful
birds-eye-view shots of America’s
finest cities, a hip soundtrack and
close-ups that give the impression
that some of the characters are talking
directly to us. Yet there are no
odd, ‘artistic’ director’s quirks that
distract the audience. Reitman has
matured as a director significantly,
making his style more subtle but
still distinctive enough for the film
to feel unique. He also doesn’t copout,
even when it looks like he will.
Without giving too much away, Up
in the Air is constantly compelling
but you do begin to wonder how it
will touch down (sorry) and Reitman
provides a conclusion that is
unexpected, yet satisfying.
Films within the ‘drama’ genre
are always going to hit a nerve with
some people, but I sense that this
examination of work, relationships,
and the morality behind those
two factors will affect most of the
population. The aforementioned
American Beauty, Crash and No
Country for Old Men all went on to
win the Oscar for Best Picture, and
I’d be pleased to see Up in the Air
follow in their footsteps.