Up In The Air

Entertainment: 3/5

Cinematic: 3/5

Smart and witty. But did it deserve all the rave it got?

I went to see this movie with my parents and my Dad walked out halfway through saying, "See you later, dudes. This is a chick flick." And I had to agree with him. I truly enjoyed the movie, but I didn't understand what all the hype was about it. "The story of a man trying to make a connection." And he did, I suppose.

The whole point of the movie was to explore what it means to have a relationship with someone: as a mentor, as an employee, as a human being- and what happens when relationships are broken. With the recess of our economy as the main antagonist of the film it caused a great amount of conflict, but not necessarily between the characters. It became an environmental factor.

George Clooney was charming and witty, Vera Farmiga beautiful and mysterious- you could understand why Clooney's character fell for her care-free, non chalant spirit so easily and Anna Kendrick was delightful as the uptight, straight out of college, know-it-all who accompanies Clooney as he trains her in his tricks of the trade.

The story was about people, about the characters but no huge kodak moments come to mind. Perhaps the poster (see above) and the moment when Kendrick refers to Clooney as being old (the old fashioned mirror trick)- but none else. Looking at the trailer, however, we might say that the production team did a good job with composition without making it the be all and end all of it's own artistry and by that I mean, compared to Nine, composition became an element of the environment, not for the sake of creating a pretty picture. The composition helped reveal character. Sense or senseless? Dwell on that for a bit.

The birdseye shots of every city got dull after a while, as well as the captions going along with it. The audience already understands that he travels, I hate it when people pull the "stupid audience" card (see review on Nine for explanation.)

This is a story of a man who needs to take his own advice.

Neo-Decadant value: The movie was smart, witty, but the ending was an obvious one. I walked away with the notion that shit happens, we get burned, and yet we keep living. And there's nothing more we can do.

2/5. The sublime is never reached and if it is, they make sure to douse it in American cynicism.