Up in the Air is a movie based on the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn. It stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran, Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener, Jason Bateman as Craig Gregory, Amy Morton as Kara Bingham, and Melanie Lynskey as Julie Bingham. It received 6 Academy Award nominations of which the nomination for Writing is the only one that wasn't a requirement to make my list. It earned a Best Actor, two Best Supporting Actresses, a Best Director, and a Best Picture nomination.
Of all the movies that made my list from 2009 Up in the Air and Inglorious Basterds were the ones I truly wanted to see in the theater, sadly it was not to be. Having been a frequent business traveler in the past the movie intrigued me a bit. Of course Ryan Bingham's job and the reason for his travel was even more intriguing to me.
What follows will be a rather short synopsis of the film with the goal to limit the spoilers to a minimum. Ryan Bingham works for a company that specializes in firing and laying off people and providing them with the package to help them transition into their new careers. To do this he must travel......A LOT. He likes travelling, prefers it actually and has a very minimalistic life at "home".
This all comes to a halt when Natalie Keener comes to work for the firm. To save the company money she comes up with the idea to fire/lay off employees via video chat. In between all of this there is the stereotypical infidelity on the road. Beside all of that Bingham is lugging around a card board cut out of his sister and soon to be brother in law so he can take some pictures in various locations to make them seem more worldly.
The thing I found most interesting about this movie is that many of the people that are being let go seem to be more from a corporate downsizing program rather than being fired for cause. I'd guess most of these jobs would be moving offshore. While letting people go via video chat isn't moving jobs offshore, but it is threateningly close to making Bingham irrelevant. It is almost as if Karma is coming around. Although, I felt as if Bingham was more upset about the fact that his travelling may come to end is his biggest issue. I think the job isn't as important to him as the flying and the perks he gains from it.
There was one issue I did have with the movie though. Bingham has a fling with Alex Goran for a good portion of the movie. I suppose I should have seen it coming or figured it out right away, but she was married as well. Without revealing what happens, I had a real problem with her getting all pissy with Bingham. She never once gave him any indication that she was married and for that matter who goes as a guest with her boyfriend to a wedding and is gone from her family for a few days. She is just as guilty as he is but makes it out like he is the bad guy. It just rubbed me the wrong way.
On to the nominations. I am starting with the Best Actor nomination. George Clooney was nominated for his role as Ryan Bingham. This was Clooney's third acting nomination. He won for Syriana which I have not yet seen. I did see Michael Clayton though and I must say that while he was excellent in this movie I don't think it was to the level of his role in Michael Clayton.
As you probably guess from my previous paragraph he did not win for his role. It isn't that old of a movie either so even if you aren't a huge movie trivia person you probably also knew that. Clooney was up against the following for Best Actor that year.
- Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart
- Colin Firth as George in A Single Man
- Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandella in Invictus
- Jeremy Renner as Staff Sgt William James in The Hurt Locker
On to the Best Supporting Actress nominations of which Up in the Air had the honor of getting two. Vera Farmiga was nominated for her role as Alex Goran and Anna Kendrick was nominated for her role as Natalie Keener. Their competition was:
- Penelope Cruz as Carla in Nine
- Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean Craddock in Crazy Heart
- Mo'Nique as Mary in Precious
I will say that if I had to pick between the two that were nominated from Up in the Air I don't even think there is a debate. Anna Kendrick's performance is clearly superior to Farmiga's. Now just because I say there is not debate doesn't mean there can't be one, it is just my opinion.
I think KendrickBingham asks Keener to fire him and he easily points out the issues inherently wrong with her idea clearly speaks to the saying I mentioned above. It is also Clooney's best scene in the movie in my opinion.
I don't want to ignore Farmiga here because she was also nominated. I have made it clear that I wasn't wowed by her, but she had her moments. To me her most compelling scene was when Keener broke down because her boyfriend broke up with her. She and Clooney provide advice to her and it almost seems as if they are her mom and dad giving their child worldly advice. It also stood out to me because I have witnessed on more than one occasion the young just out of college worker thinking they are going to change the world and having a plan. Then the realization hits them, that it just doesn't work out that way. It takes some longer than others, but what Farmiga says in this scene is pretty much what I would have told her as well.
I should mention that the nominations were the first for both actresses, in fact with the exception of Penelope Cruz they were all first time nominees. Which makes you wonder if we can expect more great things from all of them. I guess only time will tell.
On to the directing category, which I must be honest about. I have the most difficult time critiquing this category. I am a movie lover, but I don't pretend to know anything about directing. I am sure as hell am not some pretentious asshole that speaks about the angle of a shot or what not when clearly I know nothing about it. Jason Reitman was nominated for his job as director on this film. He was up against the following.
- James Cameron for Avatar
- Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
- Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds
- Lee Daniels for Precious
I am not saying Reitman is superior or even in the same league based on this, but it speaks volumes to his potential as a director. One would think that this bodes well for Reitman and his future as a director.
He didn't win, as you may recall 2009 was historic. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for directing.
On to the Best Picture nomination. 2009 was the year where they expanded the list of Best Picture nominees. So rather than five it doubled to ten. Aside from Up in the Air, the other nominees were as follows.
- Avatar
- The Blind Side
- District 9
- An Education
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglorious Basterds
- Precious
- A Serious Man
- Up
Although I would easily rate Up in the Air in the top four of the ten that were nominated. I enjoyed the movie and it really brought home a lot of memories for me. Especially the travelling although, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as Ryan Bingham did. I certainly miss the losing of the Elite status I lost from not flying as much and the perks from the hotels. Though I find it a fair trade off to spend more time with my family. I give Up in the Air 4 out of 5 stars.
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