Up in the Air

Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey and J.K. Simmons
DVD release: 13 May 2010
Rated: M

If ever there was a film that was timed perfectly, it would have to be Up in the Air. Jason Reitman's film about a retrenchment "consultant" fits so neatly with the current zeitgeist of GFC-inspired recession in America (and immediate post-recession in Australia), you'd think the filmmakers had just waited for the meltdown to come along. Apparently, in a sense, they did. This was meant to be Reitman's first film, but Thank You for Smoking and Juno got in the way; hence the fortuitous timing.

Up in the Air confirms Reitman as a director with real talent. Three films, three successes - you can't do much better than that. The last directors I can think of with that kind of strike rate would have been the Coen brothers in the 1990s. As a chronicler of the tribulations of life and work, he certainly seems to be building a case as the logical successor to say Neil LaBute, albeit without the dark edge.

The mention of LaBute is intentional, for Up in the Air shares some similarities with LaBute's film debut In the Company of Men. Not only is its focus on the workaday life of a corporate shlub (at least, as shlubby as George Clooney could ever be), but the sting in the tail is similar too. You can also see parallels in Reitman's earlier Thank You for Smoking, in which the lead character is also faced with hard choices as a result of his discovery that he's actually very good at a job many would find soul-destroying.

Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man whose job it is to fire people. Basically, companies hire Ryan's company to tell those employees who are no longer required that their job has been terminated. Since Ryan's company is based in Omaha (conveniently near the geographic centre of the continental US), and his clients are scattered around the country, it means he is "on the road" as it were more than he's at "home" - racking up thousands of frequent-flyer miles in the process. It's a lifestyle that Ryan not only embraces, but actively enjoys. He's far more comfortable in the cabin of an airliner than he is in his sterile Omaha apartment. He loves the travel, the sameness of it all, the "forced hospitality" - and he's good at firing people. He finds a kindred spirit in fellow corporate traveller Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), with whom he has a dalliance of sorts.

The problem is, Ryan's lifestyle is under threat from uppity bright-young-thing Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick). Fresh from college, she has come up with a plan to save the company millions in travel expenses by using teleconferencing to fire people. This will mean the end of Ryan's criss-crossing of the country. Incensed, Ryan convinces his boss Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman) to allow him to stay on the road for a while - but there's a catch; he must take the sparky Natalie with him.

Apart from its obvious topical relevance, Up in the Air also taps into deeper themes involving the value of work, the perils of the free market and social isolation. You could argue this is the Wall Street for the "noughties" (an epithet I hate, incidentally). Where Wall Street gave us the reptilian Gordon Gekko and his "greed is good" mantra; Up in the Air gives us the suave Bingham with his "backpack" theory. I won't bore you by reciting the theory as it's expounded in the movie, but suffice to say it involves jettisoning much of the "baggage" in your life. It's almost like the antithesis of the "parachute" analogy from the popular book What Colour is Your Parachute.

The point is that in Bingham, we find a character whose connection with the "real" world of family, friends and basic human interaction has been dulled or even entirely severed by his devotion to the dispiriting job he has. For all his material wealth and apparent success, he's a modern day pariah, doomed to wander the austere airport terminals and featureless hotel rooms of contemporary America.

That's not to say that the film itself is bland - quite the contrary in fact. Reitman (who collaborated with Sheldon Turner in adapting Walter Kirn's novel) injects plenty of humour into the piece; and more than a little humanity as well. Despite being primarily set in nondescript office buildings and airports, the film is surprisingly colourful and downright sunny (both literally and figuratively) at times. One nice - if poignant - touch is to use the reactions of "real" people who had actually been laid off in many of the film's sequences. Apparently the film's crew posed as documentarians to obtain these; giving a very human face to the tragedy of retrenchment.

George Clooney has never been better than he is here. Not only is he perfectly cast, but he truly inhabits the character. Despite the familiar sparkle in his eyes, you can tell this is a character who's been worn down by life. He's either too comfortable or too scared to do anything else; and even though there's no convenient epiphany for him at the end of the film, he at least comes to realise what he has become.

Although Clooney gets most of the screen time, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick as the significant women in his life both put in strong performances. I was particularly taken with Kendrick's girl-woman; a jejune neophyte who at first strides boldly into the swirling river of corporate culture, only to recognise all too quickly that she's out of her depth. Comic relief is provided by Melanie Lynskey as Bingham's younger sister, and Danny McBride as her boorish betrothed.

This is a fine example of a brilliantly written, expertly directed and wonderfully acted film. While it may not have the flash-and-dash of some other films, it's an intelligent, thoughtful and ultimately rewarding cinema experience.

David Edwards