"Up In The Air" 2009

"Up In The Air"

I saw this movie during one of my Oscar marathons.  It was nominated for several different awards, best picture, best screenplay, and Best Actor for George Clooney.  Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress. 

I love George Clooney.  He harkens back to the old school charm of Cary Grant.  He has a wonderful transformation in this movie.  He starts with confidence and ends unsure.  It is interesting because it usually goes the other way.



Ryan Bingham: How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office... and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. 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 travels 250 days a year going around the country as a downsizing consultant.  Basically he fires people for a living.  He loves to travel.  He loves the self imposed isolation and the lack of commitment.   He is also obsessed with earning frequent flyer miles. 

He is called back to the home office to discover that his job is changing.  A young hotshot, hired right out of college has an idea to revolutionize the process.  Fire people over video chat.



Ryan insists that she experience the job first hand before taking it on over her way.  So they start traveling together.

He immediately starts giving her lessons for surviving on the road and in the air. 

Ryan Bingham: [on getting through airport security] Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.
Natalie Keener: That's racist.
Ryan Bingham: I'm like my mother, I stereotype. It's faster.
He also meets Alex who seems to be leading the same existence he is.  They cross paths in cities and have an easy relationship that starts to make Ryan rethink his values.

[Ryan meets Alex Goran for the first time at a bar]
Ryan Bingham: Are you satisfied with Maestro? Alex Goran: Yeah, I am.
Ryan Bingham: A little stingy with their miles. I like Hertz. Alex Goran: No, Hertz keeps its vehicles too long. If a car has over 20,000 miles, I won't drive it.
Ryan Bingham: Maestro doesn't instant checkout. I like to park and go.
Alex Goran: Hertz doesn't guarantee navigation.
Ryan Bingham: It's funny. You don't seem like a girl who needs directions. Alex Goran: Oh, I hate asking for directions. That's why I get a nav. Ryan Bingham: That new outfit, Colonial, it's not bad.
Alex Goran: [impressed and flattered] Is that a joke? Ryan Bingham: Yes. Alex Goran: Because their kiosk placement blows.
Ryan Bingham: They never have available upgrades.
Alex Goran: Basically, it's a fleet of $hit-boxes. I don't know how they're still in business.
Ryan Bingham: I'm Ryan. Alex Goran: I'm Alex.

 

Soon Ryan is pulled in different directions.  His sister is getting married and he is forced to acknowledge the relationships he has.  There is a great moment where he offers to give his sister away and discovers that she never even considered it.  He hasn't been home in so long that he barely exists.

 

It ends with him back on the road, having achieved his goal of 10 million frequent flyer miles and finding it unsatisfying.

 

It is a really good movie.  It depicts the unraveling of a lonely existence.  He isn't less lonely at the end, but you imagine the possibilities of a new beginning.