Up in the Air Movie Review
By-Windy City Gal
"To know me is to fly with me" - Ryan Bingham (George Clooney)
We added a new team member to the Sandwichjohnfilms Family coming all the way from the Chicago.
Windy City girl just blew into our family. And we are lucky to have her.
Also check out her awesome blog over at Windy City Gal.
Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and "Twilight's" Anna Kendrick, focuses on Ryan Bingman (Clooney) as a no-baggage, traveling "corporate downsizer", void of any human relationships. Bingham's relationship-less life puts him in a perfect position to layoff people across the country without batting an eyelash.
There might not be a more fitting role for Clooney. We all know his eternal bachelor status, and this movie represents it perfectly. I'm not saying he hasn't loved. We've seen many a girlfriend, but the movie eerily portrays similarities between his movie love life and his real love life.
Clooney is ever-so-believable as an unsettled bachelor who ends up rethinking his lifestyle after family issues bring him back home. Vera Farmiga is even more believable as Clooney's man-eating counterpart. So much so that her actions near the end of the film, which show her character's underlying motivations, are truly shocking to most movie-goers (and caused a loud "gasp" in the theater).
Anna Kendrick gets her first breakout role after playing Jessica Stanley in the Twilight franchise. Kendrick takes on this adult-targeted film with gusto, playing a 23-yr old know-it-all who ends up realizing she doesn't know much of anything. Kendrick plays the comic relief in the movie, with perfectly timed foot-in-mouth one-liners that had most people cringing in their seats. Her volleying back and forth with Clooney is spot on and you can see inklings of Kendrick's character breaking Bingham down.
As we see Clooney's character develop, look for subtle changes in filming. The first half of the film is mostly neutral colors - grey, black, white - those you would see in an airport - and those Bingham is most comfortable with. You'll also notice straight lines (shirts hanging, rows of departure statuses, continuous credit card and boarding pass swiping). As Kendrick and Farmiga's characters start to open him up, notice the lines start to disappear and color starts to enter his life - a metaphor for relationship building and caring.
By the end of the film, Bingham, while wanting to change his lifestyle, might have waited a bit too long. You'll have to see the movie to see if the change is truly possible or if he remains Up in the Air.
All three actors are fantastic at portraying their well-developed characters. The story is good, and particularly believable in these economic times. It also covers the emotional spectrum of sadness, happiness, laughter and despise. To have all this successfully combined in a film is truly an achievement and Up in the Air is worth the publicity it's received.
8 out of 10 sandwiches with a side of pickle
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