Review of Up in the Air (2009) by Mitchc — 13 Jan 2010

This is an adult movie, watching the pains and seductions of now without blinking. It's a romance, a comedy and a tragedy, on point at every moment. The concept is straight out of the existential mindset: life is absurd, and its absence of coherence and reliable meaning is a void at the edge of even the most upbeat moment.

We see the stark, documentary-style suffering of people suddenly fired and cut loose from their moorings for no good reason, intercut with scenes of delight in the mating ritual of practiced pleasure seekers, circled by everybody's inescapable isolation and amplified by a young woman's confusion at the unspooling of values in these modern times.

Contrasts: The writing is witty in the telling of somber events; penetrating observation is conveyed in the idiom of farce; an ugly business is packaged as a nimble growth industry. Clooney's acting is spotless and his luminous leading lady stays with him step for step like Ginger Rogers with Fred Astaire.

The nerdy young woman who accompanies them is a full equal partner. This is sociology, philosophy and entertainment wrapped tightly together in a package you don't want to let go of.