Up in the Air (2009)

Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Runtime: 109 min

If you expect something from this film, then it's better to leave all your expectations at the theater’s door and to let yourself be surprised. In fact, “Surprise” is the word which describes best this movie: the entire plot is surprising, the ending is unexpected, and it was a real surprise to see George Clooney in the shoes of Ryan Bingham, a very different character from the ones that Clooney got us used to.

The movie “Up in the Air”, which had its premiere on December 5, 2009, at the Telluride Film Festival, is an adaptation of the book with the same name, published in 2001 by the American author Walter Kim. The movie tells the story of Ryan Bingham, a “career transition specialist” (nicely said), its job being that of traveling across America and firing people, when such a thing is required, and sometimes giving motivational speeches. Spending more days on the road, or better said in the air, than at home, Ryan is a solitary person, ready at any time to pack its bag to the smallest details, to avoid the airport crowd and to take off.

His habitual, almost mechanical, existence is shaken when Ryan meets his female counterpart - Alex (played by Vera Farmiga), a blond, witty and charming frequent flyer, or as she describes herself: “Just think of me as yourself - only with a vagina”. They start by engrossing in witty dialogues, comparing fidelity cards and after confronting their flights, end up meeting more often than either one of them would have expected.

But the plot doesn’t stop only at this. Natalie (played by Anna Kendrick), a freshly graduated, threatens Ryan’s job and his ambition to collect 10 million frequent-flyer miles, when she develops a video method of laying off people, which makes flying unnecessary. Not wanting to change anything, Ryan persuades his boss to take his new colleague with him and share some of his field experience.

From that point on we’ll fly from East to West, from Kansas City to Miami, from Detroit to Las Vegas and San Francisco. This endless journey is in fact an insight into Ryan’s planned and detached existence. The resulted outcome is even more surprising than the plot itself, and needs to be seen by every one of you to be able to fully understand it.

What makes this film worthy of its awards (“Best picture of 2009”, according to NBR, and many Golden Globe nominations) is the director Jason Reitman (best known for “Juno” and “Thank you for smoking”) who envisions “Up in the Air” as a movie grounded into the most actual problems of our society.

Clooney’s performance is very believable as a man who feels confident in his routine, and in his grey suit, and in the same time preserves some of Danny Ocean’s charm and wits.

If I would have to put a label on this film, it wouldn’t do justice to all its qualities, so this is not a romance, it's not even a comedy or a drama, it’s just a movie that makes you think.

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