Up in the Air
After three films, Jason Reitman is turning into one Hell of a good filmmaker. His 2006 debut “Thank You for Smoking” looked at a corporate lobbyist whose belief in what he does makes even the worst message seem logical. His 2007 smash “Juno” looked honestly at teen pregnancy in a way that went past the mere “hipness” of its’ attitude and into something real.
Now, with his Oscar front-runner “Up in the Air,” his maturation is complete. That was quick. But thanks to a probing intelligence that isn’t afraid to look at every angle and a trio of superb performances, Reitman has made a dramatic comedy that stings with the harshness of life as much as it does resonate with genuine truth.
Much like another film I’ve seen recently- “The Messenger”- “Up in the Air” is about a man with a seemingly impossible job. Ryan Bingham is a corporate firer. Working out of Omaha, where he keeps a sparsely-kept apartment, Ryan works for a company whose job it is to soften the blow of termination when the boss lacks the courage to do it themselves. He spends most of his year on the road, a life with several perks he enjoys through collecting frequent flier miles, but lacks much in the way of genuine human connection. He’s estranged from his family- his sister (Melanie Lynskey) is about to get married- and his apartment looks as tidy as one of the hotels he stays at.
One day, he’s taken out of the field by his boss (Jason Bateman at his creepy sleazy best), who’s ready to make their own job rather obsolete. Enter Natalie (Anna Kendrick, from the “Twilight” saga), a recent psyche graduate who has come up with a way to fire people without being in the same room as them. Ingenious, no? Now you can get canned by someone whom not only do you not know, but isn’t even in the same room (nary, state) as you. Ryan has a problem with this, so he takes Natalie on a road trip that’ll show her what it is his job really entails. Natalie’s trial by fire gives her a glimpse of the reality of their job, and Kendrick is a spunky and sensational pleasure in the role. We see her character’s transformation from an analytical approach to her life and work to an emotional one- when she starts performing the firings alongside Bingham, you can see the veil lifted off of her perception of their work. And she keeps up with Clooney with the maturation of a pro- not an easy feat.
Reitman and Sheldon Turner’s script takes the novel by Walter Kirn and distills it into a simple narrative that’s anything but simple-minded. Reitman uses real people, who’ve been laid off in real life, in addition to character actors like Zach Galifianakis and J.K. Simmons to show the blow to ego and personal pride a scenario like this one has on an individual. The results are tough to watch sometimes, and true to life.
Still, if I were ever put in a position like this, I’d want someone like Bingham to deliver the blow. He’s merciless in his technique, but he also finds ways to cushion the blow, and knows that in this situation, people will react in different ways, and they need to be allowed to do so. The problem is, however, that Bingham simply sees it as just one of the reasons not to get tied down to people in their baggage. He also is given the chance to give unorthodox motivational speeches to businessmen like him about the benefits of living your life with just enough baggage- literally and metaphorically- to get you through life. Letting other people in, with their own baggage, will only lead to messy situations, a fact he’ll find out for himself when he hooks up with Alex (Vera Farmiga) another first-class flier who is as addicted to the perks of the road as he is. Their arrangement seems simple until Ryan starts to think that he might be missing something in life. Farmiga- from “The Departed” and “Orphan”- matches Clooney every step of the way as a smart and sexy businesswoman with a good head on her shoulder and a clear conscience about what this type of relationship is for her.
Still, the film belongs to Clooney, who’s had a great fall between this, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” This is his best work to date, however. He uses his leading-man charm to show the kinks in Ryan’s armor as we see him slowly realize what he’s missing in his own life. I think it starts with his first visit back home to his apartment. It’s a small moment, but you can see his routine get shaken around a bit. By the time he’s telling his sister’s groom-to-be (Danny McBride) that “everyone needs a co-pilot” when he gets cold feet, you start to wonder whether his priorities have changed, much like he and Alex have tried to impart on Natalie earlier. Still, by the time he hits his dream goal of 10,000,000 frequent flier miles, he starts to see what little that really means without his own co-pilot. Reality has a few surprises that’ll shake his worldview further, but when you see him look at that big board of destinations at the end, you can see the opportunities for his future start to open up. This is the type of story Reitman has excelled at- capturing a moment in time when his main character is at a moment of truth and self-discovery has endless possibilities. Basically, the type of moment Bingham tells people they’re at when he sacks them. Talk about making a story tie together.
