Questor 501 Posted December 29, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-Da8Tz4_E This movie is a deconstruction of the attitudes of the consultants who live "Up in the Air," they travel around the country (and even the world) on short term contracts. Many of them spend more time in airports and on airplanes than they do anywhere else. Its a culture that I'm sadly familiar with, although only peripherally. Contrary to what is being said about it, I would not call it a romantic comedy, but more a tragedy. The movie does contain the essential elements of a comedy, but that plot ends in the only way it could given the characters.I approached this movie as the son of a man who was for at least one year, Lufthansa's number one frequent flier, and he did that while being involved in multi-year projects rather than the one-off ones that Clooney's character participates in.George Clooney's character captures the attitudes of these businessmen almost perfectly, in fact, the only thing I would say he does wrong is that he has him too attached to his home office in Omaha. Some of the consultants I've known who are on contracts as much as Clooney's character don't bother to maintain an apartment, and have their mail delivered to their ostensible home office. Those consultant's home is "Up in the Air" even more than Clooney's character. Some of them don't even have real offices, they just grab a cubical at the nearest branch of their employer when they need to use an office. Now, the differences that I noticed might also be because the part of this culture I know is not the "downsizing consultant" but the "management consulting services consultant," who I believe are in one place a little bit longer, a week or more rather than only a day. Clooney's character is a long-term veteran of this world, and the kind of person who revels in it, he uses it to wall himself off from the world. He only exists for a few days in any one place. His love interest, played by Vera Farmiga, captures a different kind of consultant, one that participates in the "Up in the Air" lifestyle, but also tries to maintain a family. This deserved more exploration than the film really had time for, but might be a good subject for another movie. Another character that I feel was done very well was the "young neophyte," played by Anna Kendrick. She really was the audience's viewpoint character, even though - to the extent that the movie had one - she was the antagonist. As she learns exactly what is involved in doing that job long term, she is introduced to both the exciting (the party, which I can tell you is actually VERY tame compared to the yearly conferences I've been to) and the soul-crushing (the suicide of someone they have fired). In the end, she seems to discover that she is not the person that she needs to be to do that job.The main conflict of the story is also timely. More and more video conferencing and telepresence are replacing the "Up in the Air" consultant, and seeing the movie show the dehumanizing process, and its results, are interesting.All in all, I really liked the movie, and would really enjoy seeing a similarly thorough deconstruction done of the international consultant version. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Airlocke 12,014 Posted December 29, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-Da8Tz4_E This movie is a deconstruction of the attitudes of the consultants who live "Up in the Air," they travel around the country (and even the world) on short term contracts. Many of them spend more time in airports and on airplanes than they do anywhere else. Its a culture that I'm sadly familiar with, although only peripherally. Contrary to what is being said about it, I would not call it a romantic comedy, but more a tragedy. The movie does contain the essential elements of a comedy, but that plot ends in the only way it could given the characters. I approached this movie as the son of a man who was for at least one year, Lufthansa's number one frequent flier, and he did that while being involved in multi-year projects rather than the one-off ones that Clooney's character participates in. George Clooney's character captures the attitudes of these businessmen almost perfectly, in fact, the only thing I would say he does wrong is that he has him too attached to his home office in Omaha. Some of the consultants I've known who are on contracts as much as Clooney's character don't bother to maintain an apartment, and have their mail delivered to their ostensible home office. Those consultant's home is "Up in the Air" even more than Clooney's character. Some of them don't even have real offices, they just grab a cubical at the nearest branch of their employer when they need to use an office. Now, the differences that I noticed might also be because the part of this culture I know is not the "downsizing consultant" but the "management consulting services consultant," who I believe are in one place a little bit longer, a week or more rather than only a day. Clooney's character is a long-term veteran of this world, and the kind of person who revels in it, he uses it to wall himself off from the world. He only exists for a few days in any one place. His love interest, played by Vera Farmiga, captures a different kind of consultant, one that participates in the "Up in the Air" lifestyle, but also tries to maintain a family. This deserved more exploration than the film really had time for, but might be a good subject for another movie. Another character that I feel was done very well was the "young neophyte," played by Anna Kendrick. She really was the audience's viewpoint character, even though - to the extent that the movie had one - she was the antagonist. As she learns exactly what is involved in doing that job long term, she is introduced to both the exciting (the party, which I can tell you is actually VERY tame compared to the yearly conferences I've been to) and the soul-crushing (the suicide of someone they have fired). In the end, she seems to discover that she is not the person that she needs to be to do that job. The main conflict of the story is also timely. More and more video conferencing and telepresence are replacing the "Up in the Air" consultant, and seeing the movie show the dehumanizing process, and its results, are interesting. All in all, I really liked the movie, and would really enjoy seeing a similarly thorough deconstruction done of the international consultant version. Might want to redo that spoiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Questor 501 Posted December 29, 2009 Might want to redo that spoiler Thanks. Sorry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Airlocke 12,014 Posted December 29, 2009 Thanks. Sorry Not an issue. I wasn't going to watch the movie. Not a Clooney fan. Anyway I've fixed it in my quote, too, so it's all good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Questor 501 Posted December 29, 2009 HOLY SHIT we have spoiler tags? yes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyralak 12,068 Posted December 29, 2009 HOLY SHIT we have spoiler tags? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
