Up In The Air is a 2009 English movie by director Jason Reitman with George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick in lead roles. The film has a wonderful direction with witty dialogues, sharp irony. Underneath its feather-light approach, the movie tells a keen story that deals with heavier problems of our modern life and corporate world.
Taglines
* The story of a man ready to make a connection.
* Arriving this December
StoryLine:
The protagonist of the story is Ryan Bingham, played by the acclaimed Hollywood actor George Clooney, who flies all year round at different places for work. His job is to go to different business organizations and fire people on behalf of their bosses. He has no discomfort about his job. He can fire people very amiably with a cool speech ‘What’s in your backpack’, helping them look to the brighter side of it. Very seldom Ryan gets to spend a boring day at home! Neither is he a family man, nor does he have much reputation for sharing his domestic duties. He is both excited and proud of accumulating points and miles in his travelling card.
Ryan develops a casual relationship with a frequently-travelling lady Alex (Vera Farmiga). They spend nights together, have intimate moments, send provoking text messages, talk filrtingly over the phone. When Alex tells Ryan that she is the only woman that he would never have to worry about or take care of, he says that sounds like a good trap!
Ryan’s closest relations are his sisters Kara (Amy Morton) and Julie (Melanie Lynskey). Julie is going to get married to Jim (Danny McBride), but the couple does not have enough finances to go for honeymoon and hence have asked their friends and families to take pictures of their cardboard cutouts at interesting places, so that they at least have the pictures.
At work, Ryan comes across a young ambitious woman Natalie (Anna Kendrik), who has innovated the new technique of firing people over the internet. When Ryan tells her that she does not have any idea about how things are like when you fire someone, their boss asks Ryan to take her with him on his tours. On the official trip, Ryan and Natalie exchange their values towards life, and the young woman is not much impressed by the middle-aged executive’s lightliness towards things. In fact she gets pretty disgusted at times. While Natali is still on the roads with Ryan, her boy-friend breaks up with just by sending a text message. Ryan thinks it is just like firing someone over the internet! Anyway, he lets the distressed girl join him and Alex in a crazy party. But when Natalie comes to know that their friendship is one of those that does not have any possible future, she blames Ryan for not doing justice to Alex.
Ryan asks Alex to join him to his sister’s wedding in Wisconsin. They spend some good time there, and Ryan startle everyone with his new date! Right before the wedding when Jim gets cold feet, Ryan,with his ususal proficiency, talks him into marriage and calms him off. Much to the contrary of his pesonal beliefs about relations, he tells Jim how those happy moments of life would feel to be alone!
On a following tour, when Ryan is on the verge of staring his usual ’What’s in your backpack?’ speech in front of a huge crowd, we see him get emotional for the first time. He grabs his stuff, and leaves, leaving everyone surprised. He flies straight to Chicago and shows up in front of Alex’s place. On opening the door and seeing Ryan standing right out there, Alex’s face show a strange expression. From within the house come kids’ voices and a man asking her who is at the door. Alex answers back that it is some lost stranger. It seems evident from the conversation that she has a loving family, apparently. Ryan leaves right off.
Later Alex calls Ryan and tells him that what he saw at her place was her real life, and he was her escape from the reality, a parenthesis in her routine life. But being a grown-up, Alex would still be open to Ryan, and he can call her any time he wants and meet her. Ryan hangs up, politely.
Once again Ryan is on a flight and as when they are travelling over Dubuque, the crew announce that Ryan has completed his long expected 10 million miles. As they congratulate their valued customer, the captain asks him where he is from, and Ryan answers that he is from ‘here’.
The agitation of his personal life seems to have left some impact on him. Back in his office Ryan tries to transfer his miles to his newly wedded sister for her trip around the world. But Ryan has more surprises. One of the people he fired has committed a suicide and Natalie has quit.
Natalie, who has also gone through enough ups and down, is seen in San Francisco in an interview, where she gets the job. Though the interviewer shows her the recommendation letter that Ryan has written in her praise, Nalatie has surely earned her position with grace and dignity.
Ryan realizes that he been firing people for so long that he has forgot what it feels like to hire someone. Then follows a series of videos clips of famliy men and women who say in their own words the trauma of losing jobs, what security means, and how it is to have friends and family in moments of despair.
Ryan is seen to enter an airport. And life continues, once again.
Comments:
‘Up In The Air’ is brilliant film. Life looks so much different from up in the air, among clouds. And living up there contribute towards one’s views. That was what happened with Ryan. Once his mind touches the ground, his views change, even if momentarily. So, when Ryan is left shattered by the sorrows, grief, and distrust of the life on ground, he chooses once again to be in the air. But probably it leaves a scar on his soul.
The story has a shrewd irony. All throughout the movie, Ryan is thought to be callous andf heartless, a man who lacks traditional values. But the audience is left bewildered with Alex’s dual living; and more shockingly her guiltless justification for doing so.
George Clooney is brilliant and natural. Even with his lack of traditional values as Ryan, you cannot stop loving him.
Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga is gorgeous and perfect in her role. You are impressed by her portray of ‘Alex’ and hate her for her unfaithfulness, immorality, but you cannot take eyes off her all throughout the film.
Anna Kendrik is aawesome.
The wiitty, humorous dialogues are extremely enjoyable. The film is wonderfully crafted with every minute deatils looked itno. The only scene that may look a little bit out of place is the montage of interview clips towards the end of the movie.
The subject is very interesting capturing the values, problems of this time. The film also holds the mirror in front of our faces and lets us take a peek in ourselves. What we truly are, what we do and how we justify our rights and wrongs, the unpredictability of human nature – the film makes one think.
A movie that everyone would love.
Up In The Air
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Product Description |
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| From Jason Reitman, the Grammy -winning director of Juno, comes the soundtrack to his latest film, Up In The Air. Features Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, CSNY, Elliott Smith and Dan Auerbach plus unknown artists Sad Brad Smith and Kevin Rennick, and score. Reitman personally selected all the music for the soundtrack and as a director he sees music as a character in each of his films. Up In the Air stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer and consummate modern business traveler who, after years of staying happily airborne, suddenly finds himself ready to make a real connection. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Up in the Air - Trailer
Up in the Air Movie Trailer
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Great sountrack to a great movie.
