Come Fly With Me

Up in the Air is a 2009 dramatic comedy directed by Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmigia. The film is about Ryan, a man who spends most of his time traveling as part of his job as a downsizing counselor, it is his ultimate goal to gain ten million air miles, and he gives a motivational speech advocating a life without responsibilities and free of commitment. The company he is working for grounds him and develops a new technique firing people via VOIP. Anna Kendrick plays the young employee who invents the new system. Vera Farmigia plays Alex, a charismatic beautiful woman with whom George Clooney falls in love.

The film deals with modern themes of loneliness, isolation and the intense capitalism of corporate america, George Clooney's character advocated a life lived without responsabilities, without commitment, and describes life as being like a backpack, filled with things and people, he says that the lighter this bag is the easier it is to carry, subsequently after falling in love with Alex, he becomes disillusioned with this theory, and no longer believes in it. The film explores the idea of living a life without friends, possessions or family, he explores the idea of changing, but ultimately decides that his place is, up in the air.

The film is beautifully shot and well acted, George Clooney is complex and brooding in the lead role and Anna Kendrick surprises as the emotionally complex ingenue. Vera Farmigia is as beautiful and elusive as her character, and is the perfect woman who is always just out of reach. As suggested by the title much of the film takes place in airports and in hotels, in totally transitory places that all end up looking the same, this is contrasted with the weekend he spends with Alex at his sisters wedding, which contains much more personal environments, in most of which he looks supremely uncomfortable.

I was pleasantly surprised by Up In the Air, the film is a fascinating, poignant and at times insightful character study about a complex issue facing millions of people, and the idea of a life lived without consequences and without regret. Rating: B+

Ryan Bingham: The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places; and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.