Up In the Air (2009)

Walter Kern, author of the novel Up in The Air described his inspiration for the unusual book in an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air. “I was flying and received a rare upgrade to first class and began a conversation with a businessman. I asked him where he was from and he answered quizzically, “I am from here”. Kern found himself fascinated by the prospect of trying to picture the life of a man who flies 322 days and up to 350,000 miles a year. The result of Kern’s musings was the 2006 novel, which also struck the fascination of father and son movie team Ivan and Jason Reitman. Jason, the younger Reitman, was the director of Juno, the surprise indie hit of 2007. He took the novel and ran with it. No doubt he ran directly toward the Hollywood establishment, but his fresh and quirky sensibility enlivens the film as it had Juno.

Ryan Bingham played by George Clooney, has his flying routine down pat. He travels light and with maximum efficiency. His metaphorical backpack is never burdened with unnecessary material objects or emotional baggage. He does not get attached. His smug smile is sincere and endearing, he knows exactly who he is and likes himself just fine. He desires neither entangling relationships nor family, and his only goal besides material success is some magical number of flying miles he is unwilling to reveal. Oh yes, his job is to fly from city to city, company to company, to tell people they have been fired-in the most impersonal, legal, and professional terms possible. He is very good at it. You could call him a model hatchet man in the era of the Great Recession.

Few could make such a man likeable but George Clooney as Bingham seems to carry the burden of his job with such ease and charm, he succeeds. When he meets Alex Goran, played by Vera Farmiga, an attractive, mature female frequent flyer in a hotel bar, the banter is so quick and witty it could pass for foreplay. They are both so good at this type of encounter its climax is a forgone conclusion. A scene where they sit across from one another, laptop to laptop, fingers flying to book the next tryst into their busy schedules, and finish in a dead heat is an instant classic. Only the unpredictable can disturb the smooth superficiality of the life-style, and of course it happens.

The satirical elements of the movie are obvious but its redeeming merit to me was the scenes of interaction between the hitman and the freshly fired. The reactions of everyday people who have devoted their years and careers to their company only to meet this sudden end puts a human face on the human toll of economic downturns. This pathos is uncomfortably real and makes the movie an entertaining reflection of its times.





Up in the Air: Directed by Jason Reitman. Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner. Starring George Clooney, Jason Bateman, Vera Farmiga, Karen Keener.