Economic Stability Still 'Up in the Air'

'Up in the Air'

Review: 5/5

In film school we're asked consistently to analyze films not only formally and aesthetically, but as a representation of contemporary ethnology. How is the film a response or reflection of current societal norms? Does that or does that not enhance the credibility and value of the film in question? Jason Reitman's 'Up in the Air' answers these aforementioned questions, specifically mirroring the disposition of a unified nation confronted with domestic catastrophe. With a tragically comic tone, and brought to mortality by Reitman's expert writing and direction, the film renders compassionate performances from everyone involved, from Zach Galifianakis to George Clooney.

In a narrative almost intentionally written for this era in U.S. history, Clooney's Ryan Bingham plays a selfish businessman who prefers stereotyping to racism. He's lovably detestable as the film's performance centerpiece, whose job it is to terminate employees when their own employers cowardly opt out of the sordid situation. Oh, and he has an unusual affinity for airline food and four star hotels; a faux-reclusive whose insecurities are not restricted only to personal relationships. He intentionally isolates himself, as his job requires that he make no real, human connection. That is, until he meets Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga) who describes herself as Bingham with a vagina.

Bingham's life is that of a corporate gypsy, afraid to accept a reality that may sometimes offer emotional anguish, and instead preferring a sterile existence enriched by the all-encompassing, desolate whites, blues, and blacks that are adroitly observed by cinematographer Eric Steelberg. The soundtrack by Rolfe Kent adds a somber sentimentality to Bingham's odyssey, audibly mirroring the film's narrative arc that affectionately studies one man's disconnection from a world seemingly on the verge of collapse.