George Clooney in "Up in the Air"
"Up in the Air", starring George Clooney and currently in theaters everywhere, tells the story of Ryan Bingham, a frequent flyer, collector of miles and rewards points through various hotels, airlines and car rental services, and smooth talker who fires people for a living. He flies into a city, touches down at a company where workers are to be laid off, and fires them, one by one, day in and day out. The film explores what sort of effect this can have on someone who has managed not to be tied to anything- a home, a family, and certainly not a workspace.
The crux of the story comes when Bingham must escort an ambitious, young employee, Natalie Keener, on his rounds so that she can witness firsthand the ins and outs of “letting people go”. It is at this point that George Clooney really shines, showing with both pride and some resignation that there is a method to firing people, a certain way of approaching the work that makes it tolerable. Does Ryan Bingham really believe the lines he tells the newly laid-off, about brand new beginnings and career makeovers? He’ll say and do anything, it seems, to keep himself up in the air.
The strength of the movie lies, in large part, on the performances of the lead actors- George Clooney as Bingham, Anna Kendrick as the young Natalie, and Vera Farmiga as Alex, a mysterious fellow traveler who Ryan meets at a hotel bar. Everyone is navigating a world in which there is no safety net- not for one’s job, one’s family, or one’s love life, for that matter. The title then refers not only to the miles logged by Bingham up in the air, but also to the precariousness of the current work climate in the U.S. The lives of the protagonists, like those of the employees fired by Ryan, are up in the air.
