Mountain FogUp in the Air REVIEW
January 7th 2010 01:26
Jason Reitman’s latest work, Up in the Air, is a dramody, (drama/comedy). Directed by Reitman (of Juno fame) and co-written by Reitman and Sheldon Turner, this engrossing film takes a dry and wry look at an even drier existence. Based on the novel Up In The Air by Walter Kirn, Reitman, has woven another great work of cinematic art. But it takes time to settle into your psyche.
Starring George Clooney, as the perennially itinerate traveller Ryan Bingham, whose job it is to visit companies he has no connection with and fire the employees, loves his work! We see how his well ordered and ritualistic existence, down to the way he packs his bag and boards the aircraft, starts to come undone, as he is exposed to unfamiliar emotional territory.
A film about such a character in the current economic climate, particularly in America, is a brave move.
Most people will identify with the hapless targets of Bingham’s job and I would hazard a guess few will sympathise with Bingham himself. His main redeeming feature (according to himself) is, he fires people with compassion, he makes them feel a little more valued than their employer does, who is too gutless to do the job him/herself. However, at the end of the day, that is cold comfort for the loyal employee being fired for greater company profits.
What is both fascinating and disturbing about this film, in equal measure, is that many of the people being fired were actually not acting. Apparently, the film company advertised for people to apply for a job, not telling them it was for a film, then once they had been interviewed, they are let go, and we see the emotional result.
If this is true, it troubles me on more than one level; as it is a heartless way of capturing a real emotion, in times of (actual) great hardship, and more cynically, was it done to reduce production costs, as they didn’t have to pay professional acting rates? Let us hope it was done to capture some of the reality and the people were properly compensated.
Putting that aside, I liked the film a lot. Maybe the love of travelling constantly, making only superficial relationships with airline and hotel staff, is what attracts me? I always wanted to travel as a kid, and the actual process of the travelling is what I was most attracted to, so much so, I always asked my father to bring back unused airline and hotel soap packets, matchbooks and swizzle sticks, all of which I still possess, 40 years later, somewhere in my moth eaten boxes of a (now seen as) disillusioned childhood. Why disillusioned? My father always promised me I would travel around the world, but I only got to Papua New Guinea. The rest of my family got to travel all over the world. But I digress.
However, regarding the film’s main character Bingham, if that be the sum total of one’s life, I expect everyone would tire of it eventually, that is, if you are in touch with your emotions on an honest level. Bingham is not. He loves his job because of his fear of relationships, but that alone would not sustain him ten months or more of the year, he has to feel he brings something special and needed to his otherwise awful job.
But then, the company he works for has other ideas. All things come to an end, and all islands are visited, at least once.
Co-starring Vera Farmiga, as Alex, she is a like soul to Bingham, and they develop a time scheduled rendezvous relationship, no strings.
Then there is the other woman who comes into Bingham’s life, the new company employee working for his boss, Natalie Keener (played by Anna Kendrick) whose job is to learn Bingham’s job, then radically change the way it is done, thereby directly impacting upon Bingham’s entire, emotionally cloistered, world.
The actors, the un-intrusive camera work and direction, combine to create an engrossing experience. It is one of Clooney's best performances, low key and real. The film is very un-Hollywood, in so many ways, as there is a strong sense of reality to the predicaments posed, so you sit back and experience the ride without qualms or questions. However, some may have to fasten their own emotional seatbelt, before you watch Up in the Air takeoff!
IMAGE CREDITS: PRODUCTION STILLS OWNERSHIP AND COPYRIGHT PRESUMED THAT OF THE DISTRIBUTOR AND/OR PRODUCTION HOUSE, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PERMISSION: FAIR USE RATIONALE, FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY, LOW RES. IMAGE AND NOT FOR COPYING.
Clooney with Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener
Starring George Clooney, as the perennially itinerate traveller Ryan Bingham, whose job it is to visit companies he has no connection with and fire the employees, loves his work! We see how his well ordered and ritualistic existence, down to the way he packs his bag and boards the aircraft, starts to come undone, as he is exposed to unfamiliar emotional territory.
A film about such a character in the current economic climate, particularly in America, is a brave move.
Most people will identify with the hapless targets of Bingham’s job and I would hazard a guess few will sympathise with Bingham himself. His main redeeming feature (according to himself) is, he fires people with compassion, he makes them feel a little more valued than their employer does, who is too gutless to do the job him/herself. However, at the end of the day, that is cold comfort for the loyal employee being fired for greater company profits.
What is both fascinating and disturbing about this film, in equal measure, is that many of the people being fired were actually not acting. Apparently, the film company advertised for people to apply for a job, not telling them it was for a film, then once they had been interviewed, they are let go, and we see the emotional result.
If this is true, it troubles me on more than one level; as it is a heartless way of capturing a real emotion, in times of (actual) great hardship, and more cynically, was it done to reduce production costs, as they didn’t have to pay professional acting rates? Let us hope it was done to capture some of the reality and the people were properly compensated.
Putting that aside, I liked the film a lot. Maybe the love of travelling constantly, making only superficial relationships with airline and hotel staff, is what attracts me? I always wanted to travel as a kid, and the actual process of the travelling is what I was most attracted to, so much so, I always asked my father to bring back unused airline and hotel soap packets, matchbooks and swizzle sticks, all of which I still possess, 40 years later, somewhere in my moth eaten boxes of a (now seen as) disillusioned childhood. Why disillusioned? My father always promised me I would travel around the world, but I only got to Papua New Guinea. The rest of my family got to travel all over the world. But I digress.
However, regarding the film’s main character Bingham, if that be the sum total of one’s life, I expect everyone would tire of it eventually, that is, if you are in touch with your emotions on an honest level. Bingham is not. He loves his job because of his fear of relationships, but that alone would not sustain him ten months or more of the year, he has to feel he brings something special and needed to his otherwise awful job.
But then, the company he works for has other ideas. All things come to an end, and all islands are visited, at least once.
Co-starring Vera Farmiga, as Alex, she is a like soul to Bingham, and they develop a time scheduled rendezvous relationship, no strings.
Bingham teaching Keener travel survival tactics
Then there is the other woman who comes into Bingham’s life, the new company employee working for his boss, Natalie Keener (played by Anna Kendrick) whose job is to learn Bingham’s job, then radically change the way it is done, thereby directly impacting upon Bingham’s entire, emotionally cloistered, world.
The actors, the un-intrusive camera work and direction, combine to create an engrossing experience. It is one of Clooney's best performances, low key and real. The film is very un-Hollywood, in so many ways, as there is a strong sense of reality to the predicaments posed, so you sit back and experience the ride without qualms or questions. However, some may have to fasten their own emotional seatbelt, before you watch Up in the Air takeoff!
IMAGE CREDITS: PRODUCTION STILLS OWNERSHIP AND COPYRIGHT PRESUMED THAT OF THE DISTRIBUTOR AND/OR PRODUCTION HOUSE, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PERMISSION: FAIR USE RATIONALE, FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY, LOW RES. IMAGE AND NOT FOR COPYING.
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