It might not have won the Best Picture, Best Actor or Actress awards at the Oscars, it didn't really to deserve to, but Up in the Air had a lot more going for it than most of the other contenders in 2009. It didn't attempt a blatant tug at the heartstrings like Precious or a full assault on the senses like Avatar, but it had one of the most memorable tones of all. Ryan Bingham's ideal that slowing down in life is equivalent to death holds truth not just for those men and women who revel in the bachelor's life, but for anyone who has made progress and success their ultimate goal. They call it not resting on your laurels, and Up in the Air takes that to heart; despite having Oscar-nominated director Jason Reitman at its helm and George Clooney as the lead, it still insists on a fully realized story with characters you swear you've met in real life. It might not be the “Best Picture” but it's one you'll remember and take to heart.
Ryan (Clooney) knows what it's like to lose his job. Not because he has, mind you, but because he's terminated so many other people's careers that he's an expert on everything a person in that position thinks, feels, and wants to hear. He knows the intimate setting that puts people at ease, but he also knows that no matter how prepared you are for a person's reactions, you never know exactly how they'll react. This uncertainty drives his resentful welcome to up-and-coming, young professional Natalie (Anna Kendrick), who's still in that stage of her career where she's learning that even the greatest ideas can fail in implementation. She's sent to accompany Ryan in order to learn the business and take the knowledge she gains to perfect the digital system she'd have replace Ryan's livelihood of traveling from site to site in a carefree romp across the country. Ryan doesn't just fight the new digital system as a matter of ethics, but also as the termination of a budding relationship that incorporates everything he loves about his lifestyle; Alex (Vera Farmigam), a fellow career traveler and worshiper of consumer-earned status, catches his eye one late night in a hotel lounge sparking a cross-country romance both savor as the epitome of the lives they wish to live: no attachments, no obligations, just unstoppable momentum.
The concept of unstoppable momentum exists in both Bingham's desire to never settle down and Natalie's aim of upward mobility in her career. They're similar objectives with decidedly polar expectations of that good old human connection. Her resting point is with an equally professionally-minded husband, two kids, and a house in the suburbs; his is reaching the magical frequent flier miles number that grants him an elite status known only by a treasured few, with nary a social or romantic obligation to speak of. Both however learn that there's more to perpetual motion, a concept physics has defined as impossible, and that holds true in life. You can't power through life without ever looking up and expect to come away a happy person in the end. A crumbled relationship and a harsh wakeup call ensure that fate for both would-be human projectiles.
The idea behind Up in the Air is surprisingly simple, much like that another Reitman-directed favorite of mine, Thank You For Smoking. Like Aaron Eckhart in Thank You for Smoking, Clooney's Bingham has devoted his soul to his job and taken the mantle upon as his very personality. It made Eckhart a pathological smooth-talker incapable of turning off his charisma to experience real life, and it makes Bingham someone whose only desire is to avoid the one label most would classify as the traditional objective in favor of others more fleeting. He's the best at his job, and while he sees how happy marriage makes his sister (whom, for her wedding ceremony, had friends and relatives take pictures of a cardboard cut-out of her and her fiancee around the world), his thoughts are only focused on the benefits of preferred membership options at hotels. It might seem alien to some, but it's also shockingly easy to sympathize with his desire to live a detached life free of any responsibility.
The Blu-ray's hi-def bump is minor, but the film's quality in any resolution is undeniable. There's not much visually stunning about Up in the Air, the real catch is in the performances and the writing. But considering the negligible difference between SD and HD formats, there's no reason not to spring for the Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Another great film means another great audio commentary with Reitman who has quite a bit to say about his latest feature. A music video of Sad Brad Smith's “Help Yourself”, storyboards, and some deleted scenes round out the rest of the minor extras. The company Shadowplay, behind Up in the Air's opening credits, gives a rundown on what inspired the sequence and why they felt what they created was appropriate for a Jason Reitman film. Finally, a short, 30-second “prank”, as the menu calls it, plays out like a mini-blooper reel, as if one of the flights Bingham was on started going down.
"Up in the Air" is on sale March 9, 2010 and is rated R. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Jason Reitman. Written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (screenplay), Walter Kim (novel). Starring Anna Kendrick, George Clooney, JK Simmons, Jason Bateman, Vera Farmiga, Danny McBride.
