Up in the Air
With Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, George Clooney plays a similar character to Robert Redford’s character in This Property is Condemned. Both characters have unpopular, undesirable jobs that create enemies out of ordinary working people. And both characters, especially in today’s economic climate, would be among the most hated people walking the face of the earth.
Yet Reitman’s film doesn’t dwell on what Clooney’s character does. Instead, this is a movie about who Clooney’s character is and about why Clooney’s character is and about how Clooney’s character is. It is as bold and simple a character study I’ve seen all year and is one of my favourite motion pictures of 2009 for a number of reasons.
Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham. He’s a man who makes his living travelling around to various places and firing people. Bingham conducts employee layoffs for bosses who are too cowardly to do it for themselves; he is a corporate downsizer. Amazingly enough, he also loves his job because it enables him to have the sort of insulated lifestyle he’s chosen for himself. It allows him to stay up in the air, to keep his feet off of any particular piece of ground for too long. It allows him to have his freedom.
Like everything in life, there are changes. Bingham soon finds his own lifestyle threatened by new technology that will make it “easier” to fire people. He opposes this cold way of doing things, of course, because he understands the humanity in what he does. Still, his boss (Jason Bateman) requires this new form of firing people and sends him out on the road with an ambitious young coworker (Anna Kendrick) to flesh things out.
Another part of Up in the Air concerns a relationship Ryan develops with another frequent flyer named Alex (Vera Farmiga). They begin a relationship that is mostly physical and mostly designed as a cure for the loneliness of life on the road. They have no want to commit to anything real, however, and it isn’t until Ryan second guesses his loneliness that things look to be in peril.
Reitman brilliantly uses these two women to parallel the character of Ryan Bingham. The young coworker, Natalie, is a Ryan from the past. She swells with ambition and desires, above all else, to be professional. She makes choices with her heart until it is ripped out via text message. Then she changes. Alex is a modern version of Ryan. She is distant and probably hiding something. And she may or may not be as lonely as he is.
One of the things Reitman hammers down in each of his movies is the way the corporation’s cold steel skeleton can infect our society. Ryan is a part of a bitter industry and he is a bitter man for it, but even he recognizes the coldness and impersonal nature of the direction it is heading. His resistance gives him humanity and we are able to care about him and interact with him.
The performances are terrific. Bingham is a role naturally written for a guy like Clooney. He uses his charm and his unflappable nature elegantly, passing his character over to us with truth and integrity despite the sullenness of his place in life and the frostiness of his occupation. On top of that, Clooney infuses Bingham with a sense of proud loneliness. We never get the sense that he is certainly happy, but we do get the sense that he’s doing his best.
Up in the Air is a terrific motion picture. It is a modern document, showcasing our world as it is now with our lives confined to cards and points. Ryan Bingham is Cary Grant in our world, dressed in impeccable suits and showing charm whether he wants to or not. Under it all, though, this is one lonely Cary Grant. We allow him that, too, because he smiles at us just long enough to put us off the scent.
Trailer:
