Movie Notes: Up In The Air
= 5 stars
Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
Directed by Jason Reitman
Synopsis
Constantly-traveling, corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has grown comfortable with his odd state of rootlessness, until he meets a similarly aloof business woman Alex (Vera Farmiga), and is asked to train new hire Natalie (Anna Kendrick), who intends to streamline the firing business.
The Good
- Complicated main character: Ryan tells people a downsizing means a new beginning, yet his identity is completely defined by his job. He’s an inverse man, always employed, loyal to corporations as a worker and customer while uncommitted to personal relationships. In a sense, he’s been laid off from life. The events here could occur repeatedly; he’d always return to this state.
- Observes how the corporate habit of abrupt layoffs pushes society toward a lack of commitment and rootlessness. A layoff forever plants an ever-present thought that you can never be too settled, because any day could bring abrupt change (sadly, I speak from experience). The effects filter into our personal lives: friends-with-benefits, text-message break ups, cold feet before a wedding.
- Negative use of technology. Alex’s job may be replaced by call-center script readers, where people are fired remotely through teleconferencing via computers. So obviously impersonal and inappropriate, yet plausible a corporation would do this to benefit the corporate bottom line. The human toll is seen on the face of every worker let go in this manner.
- Different ages: Ryan and friend-with-benefits Alex are in their late forties / early fifties, while Ryan’s boss (Jason Bateman) is younger, and naive new hire Natalie (Anna Kendrick), younger still. One great scene has Ryan and Alex commenting on Natalie’s domestic aspirations — as one gets older, “settling” never feels like it. As I march relentlessly into middle age, “maturity” increasingly means the reconciling of youthful dreams with disappointing reality, as options close off based on the path chosen and dwindling of time. The death of youthful idealism is underlined by the older laid off folks to whom Ryan and Natalie’s scripts of “rebirth” and “reinvention” come off as insensitive mockery. There’s a sense that the young are systematically destroying the old to make way for a crueler, more impersonal future, as Natalie wants to reinvent the industry through the chilling corporate-speak: Glocal.
- Two surprises I didn’t see coming — just like the most efficient layoff.
- Manages to find life and heart in the generally boring, transitory locations of so-so hotel rooms, airport bars, meeting rooms, and corporate cubicles.
The Bad
- No follow-up on the laid-off folks (hoped to see more Galifianakis), but the film is informed by Ryan’s point of view, and he says no good could come from follow-up.
Conclusion
A “grown-up” movie, containing adult characters that felt real as opposed to just roles, tackling adult subjects (work, life, hopes, reality, relationships). Stunning that such maturity comes from the director of the teen-populated Juno (which I also loved); Reitman is suddenly on my one-to-watch list.
Overall, there’s a timely comment on the current state of American society. I was reminded of Network, sans Howard Beale — no call to action at injustice — these characters have been subdued into passive acceptance of this dehumanizing world. Instead of an inspirational, rabble-rousing speech, we’re handed an empty backpack.
It also nails a disquieting, unsettled, complicated theme. We’re loyal to jobs out of necessity, but they offer no commitment in return, and too often, humanity is the price. Our entire society shifts dangerously to a state of protective aloofness. We long to be grounded, to seek pleasure in simple things like a wedding, the company of others — tranquilizing domestication. And settle for simpler things we must, because loftier aspirations, increasingly, have no ETA. Ryan gets this; he is our future.
As more citizens experience the impersonality of unemployment, our whole nation becomes up in the air — forever circling, searching in vain for a landing spot, slipping further away in the distance.
IMDB: Up In The Air
Wikipedia: Up In The Air
Rotten Tomatoes: Up In The Air 89%