Life's about-face moments

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2009)

"Up in the Air" gives us a look at the switchtracks of our lives: those small occurrences that can get us thinking and cause us to alter our direction. They simply add up over time and one day it all comes together. We watch Ryan Bingham go through this process. And even before the change, when he's still a man who seems cold and heartless in his job, he somehow manages to do the impossible of actually leaving some of the people he fires feeling hopeful and encouraged about their future. (It reminds me of Stacy Keach's character in "The Traveling Executioner," (1970) a fascinating movie to watch, if you can find it anywhere.) In the end, you want him to have that too.