Great Films of the 21st Century: Up in the Air (2009)

 

With theaters still not operating fully, for the most part, many of us have turned to streaming services to watch movies, whether they're new or not so new. "Great Films of the 21st Century" explores the films I have seen in my career as a film critic and consider to be the best thus far. Be sure to check them out on whatever streaming service you subscribe to.

Up in the Air 

Director: Jason Reitman 

Stars: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman

Rated: R (for language and some sexual content)

You could make a case that novelist Walter Kirn and director Jason Reitman deserve a place right alongside literary naturalists Theodore Dreiser and Frank Norris. 

Kirn’s novel, which is the inspiration for this screen adaptation, isn’t naturalism in its purest sense. But it does take elements of this philosophy and makes it more accessible. 

Take lead character Ryan Bingham (George Clooney). He is most comfortable keeping everyone at an arm’s distance. He’s at home away from home, having to travel over 300 days a year for his job. And while most might get tired of that after a while, he loves it. 

Bingham earns his living firing people. He travels the country, from office to office, handling the unsavory task of notifying people they’ve been laid off from their job so their own bosses don’t have to do it. 

He’s good at what he does. He tries to help those he encounters maintain some semblance of dignity. He is the epitome of efficiency and expertise. 

The closest Bingham comes to displaying passion about anything is reaching 10 million frequent flier miles. Ironically, the process, the travel, the constant motion are what keep Bingham grounded. “Make no mistake, moving is living,” he tells us. 

Literary naturalists believed everything that happens is predetermined. Any attempt to alter the course of things can have catastrophic consequences for the person who tries to exert free will in any meaningful or significant way. 

Along Bingham’s travels he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), a female version of himself. She’s turned on by elite flight status and keeps her connections to others to a minimum, just like Bingham. And the two hit it off. Soon Bingham is doing his best to coordinate schedules with Alex so they can meet more frequently. 

While trying to schedule rendezvous with Alex, though, Bingham is forced to show the firing ropes to Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a recent college grad with ideas of revolutionizing the firing business through the Internet. 

Between the two women he spends most of his time with, Bingham begins to change his outlook. He sees the value of getting close to someone and letting others get close to him. 

As naturalism goes though, veering from the path that has been laid out for you by cosmic forces can have some nasty repercussions. 

Naturalism certainly stoked the debate as to whether human beings have any choices in the lives they lead. Where this literary philosophy often failed is entertainment value. Naturalism was a derivative of realism, which meant to depict life as most people know and live. But it was more brutal. It’s hard to build a large following when lead characters are often killed off and stories end on such sour notes. 

Despite its apparent influences, “Up in the Air” is witty, tightly written and directed, and has a wry humor about it. And it helps that the results for Bingham aren’t as disastrous as had befallen his literary naturalism predecessors. 

He comes across as astute and self aware throughout the film. Yet, like so many of the people he’s fired, Bingham is reminded of the fundamental truths about himself through the adversity he endures. He can then move on knowing that he’s discovered who he cannot be.