Jason Reitman is firmly establishing himself as a gifted director of offbeat material. After Thank You For Smoking came Juno followed now by the equally unconventional and entertaining Up in the Air. When all too often films follow a well-proven formula, it’s refreshing when one comes along that bucks tradition.
Adapted by Reitman (son of director Ivan Reitman), in collaboration with Sheldon Turner, from Walter Kirn’s novel, Up in the Air offers a sobering story of isolation. Courageously refusing to trot out the stock and predicable ending, instead it deals in the harsher ironies consistent with real life, giving all that had gone before greater resonance.
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is what is euphemistically referred to as a career transition counselor, which, in layman’s terms, means he fires people for a living. It’s a career choice that defines Bingham as a person, disconnected as he is from the personal and familial devastation caused by being laid off. Unmarried and untethered, the previous year he’d spent 322 days on the road, which he laments, “meant I had to spend 43 miserable days at home.” Home is a spartan apartment infinitely less cozy than the hotel rooms he spends the bulk of his time staying in as he flies around the country, visiting failing companies and administering wholesale redundancies.
He appears to love his nomadic, carefree life. With no close friends, his pleasure comes from casual liaisons and racking up frequent flyer perks. His sole ambition is to join the select group of travelers who have flown 10 million miles. But this ordered routine is disrupted by two events. Firstly his company, headed by Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman), following a proposal from a new recruit Natalie (Anna Kendrick), plans to reduce costs by centralizing the operation, firing people via video conferencing rather than face to face. Secondly, he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), who appears to enjoy the same carefree, itinerant lifestyle.
Bingham has little involvement with his family. “Basically you don’t exist to us,” declares one sister. So another sister’s upcoming wedding is considered an inconvenience, but the threat of being grounded, the wedding and meeting Alex combine to cause Bingham to reevaluate his once neatly ordered existence.
Clooney, the years finally beginning to show, is perfect as the determinedly unemotional and non-committal Bingham, while the sexy Farmiga lights things up as the ballsy and smart Alex. Kendrick too holds her own as the ambitious Natalie, who Bingham tutors in the fine art of sacking people.
Reitman’s directing is economical and purposeful. He conveys Bingham’s isolation and vulnerability simply but powerfully. The whole film has a sense of detachment, like we’ve joined Bingham in the air as he endeavors to remain as distant from everyone and everything as he can. It’s why the outcome brings us down to earth with a mighty thud but knowing we’ve been on a telling journey.
Kevin Murphy
