Slick and modern

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2009)

"The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks." Ryan Bingham
Up in the Air is a slick, modern American film with drama and humor and a few social issues to make it a nearly perfect holiday present. Jason Reitman has now established himself as one of the brightest young directors if you consider his achievements in Thank You for Smoking and Juno prior to Up in the Air.
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney at the top of his game) is a professional terminator, whom corporations hire to do their firing. Along the way, he accumulates ten million frequent-flier miles, a babe or two, and the freedom to be private and happy. However, happy people are prime dramatic targets, and Bingham is no exception. Besides falling for Alex (Vera Farmiga), who is a female version of his non-committal self, Ryan must face the change to electronic dismissals and the dismal job itself of altering for the worse every employee he severs.
Current high unemployment and uncomfortable flying circumstances with airlines cutting back on flights and services make substantial topics covered in this film with a depth uncharacteristic of American comedy dramas. The montage sequences of real employees and actors responding to the news that their jobs have been eliminated are powerful reminders that no one is immune in a Great Recession and no one, not even smooth Ryan is actually successful at making anyone feel good about being fired. Such frustrations make Clooney's performance that much more powerful because if someone as gifted as Bingham can't stop the bleeding no one can.
The sub theme of virtual firing, created by new college grad Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) makes multiple commentaries on the impersonality of all electronic interfacing and the persistent need to humanize an almost inhuman practice. This theme parallels the impersonality of Bingham's personal life; again a montage of him neatly arranging his items for his roll-on bag drives home both the fascination we can have over someone so organized and free and the distaste for such inhuman efficiency.
"Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life." Ryan Bingham