Our Grapes of Wrath

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N.Y. Times columnist Frank Rich has written a rousing paean to Jason Reitman's Up In The Air in the Sunday edition. For those who haven't decided to vote for the George Clooney topliner as a Best Picture nominee or winner, Rich's piece will close the deal. Certainly among Academy members who read the Times over Sunday brunch.

Up in the Air "is not a political movie," he writes. "It won't be mistaken for either a Michael Moore or Ayn Rand polemic on capitalism. What makes it tick is the struggle of Clooney's character, Ryan Bingham, to reclaim his own humanity, a story that will not be described or spoiled here. But the film's backdrop is just as primal -- and these days perhaps more universal -- than the personal drama so movingly atomized by Clooney in the foreground.

"Here is an America whose battered inhabitants realize that the economic deck is stacked against them, gamed by distant, powerful figures they can't see or know. Up in the Air may be a glossy production sprinkled with laughter and sex, but it captures the distinctive topography of our Great Recession as vividly as a far more dour Hollywood product of 70 years ago, The Grapes of Wrath, did the vastly different landscape of the Great Depression.

"While Up in the Air opens with a remix of Woody Guthrie's Depression-spawned "This Land Is Your Land," its dispossessed Americans don't resemble those in a black-and-white Dorothea Lange photograph. They're not the familiar contemporary blue-collar factory workers in our devastated manufacturing economy. They are instead mostly middle-class refugees from the suburban good life depicted in credit card ads.

"Their correlative to the Dust Bowl is a coast-to-coast wasteland of foreclosed office spaces where desk chairs and knots of dead phones lie abandoned in a fluorescent half-light. Up in the Air taps into the desperation, fear and anger that both the populist left and right are trying to articulate right now, and that leaders of both parties have failed to address."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 12, 2009 at 9:16 PM

comment #1

berg says ...

while UP IN THE AIR is a worthwhile trip to the theater I can think of over a dozen films I liked more. The tone of corporate indifference to the feelings of their workers are best expressed in what is for me the best scene where Clooney fires J.K. Simmons (in a cameo) and goes from being an asshole to making the guy relate to him.
"Hey asshole aren't you supposed to be consoling me?"
"I'm a wake up call."
But by the third act with that mawkish wedding sequence and the fairly unrealistic Vera/George twist I felt the film was in Dan In Real Life territory.

Posted by berg at December 13, 2009 12:21 AM

comment #2

BurmaShave says ...

Finally seeing this tomorrow afternoon. Feels like the film I've been waiting for.

Posted by BurmaShave at December 13, 2009 12:57 AM

comment #3

Dan Revill says ...

Seeing it on Wednesday (hopefully). Grapes of Wrath. Lofty comparison.

And those bastards at AICN's Butt-Numb-A-Thon are seeing SHUTTER ISLAND.

Damn! Harry's given it a semi-review that's a full on rave. Sigh.

Posted by Dan Revill at December 13, 2009 2:07 AM

comment #4

LexG says ...

May be semi-ironic the day after Jeff kindly featured my mini-rant about the L.A. bias toward Clooney and this movie. Which I still stand by, but as for the actual MOVIE, LA filmic politics aside?

UP IN THE AIR is Movie of the Year for me. Just devastating.

I can't stop thinking about it.

Posted by LexG at December 13, 2009 2:33 AM

comment #5

Chase Kahn says ...

I love it, too, and for all of the reasons mentioned in the article. It perfectly captures a world of people who are wallowing in a haze of unpredictability and unfulfillment.

The fact that it's OUR world, right now, sends it over the top.

Posted by Chase Kahn at December 13, 2009 5:08 AM

comment #6

bill weber says ...

The third act is repellent and the film as a whole, while slickly diverting, is as phony as a $3 bill. The Girlfriend Experience had more relevant things to say about the economic zeitgeist.

Maybe Rich's biggest misread of an Oscarbait mediocrity since he called The Talented Mr. Ripley "great."

Posted by bill weber at December 13, 2009 5:22 AM

comment #7

Brendan says ...

Really LexG? Really? I love reading your pithy post on each topic Jeff post, but I am perplexed by this one after yesterday. You need to drill down for us.

As someone who is on a plane twice a week for work and as someone who has played Vera's role (something I struggle with every day) in real life, Up in the Air truly connected with me. Couple my connection with the pulse of disconnect and job loss in this country and you have a movie that is a time capusle for life in America at the end of 2009. It's a lock for Best Picture this year.

Posted by Brendan at December 13, 2009 7:32 AM

comment #8

Rob says ...

Well, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a great movie, just not in an Oscar-y way.

As for Up in the Air, just b/c Reitman uses testimonials from real laid off folks (you can tell 'cause their teeth aren't capped) and takes place in exotic places like Wichita, doesn't mean it's anything more than a pat Hollywood movie about Clooney realizing he'd be better off with a wife and kids. It may have The Shins or whoever on its soundtrack, but it's about as deep as One Fine Day.

Posted by Rob at December 13, 2009 7:35 AM

comment #9

corey3rd says ...

now that word has surfaced that the same skank from VH1's Tool Academy that bedded Tiger Woods also bumped uglies with George Clooney, his shot at Oscar glory is over.

Posted by corey3rd at December 13, 2009 8:21 AM

comment #10

VoiceOfReason says ...

[Deleted -- no spoilers allowed on HE. Except for those that I don't really consider spoilers -- i.e., plot turns on movies that have been out and playing for a while. ]

Posted by VoiceOfReason at December 13, 2009 8:52 AM

comment #11

Dan Revill says ...

Voice of Reason, you're a dick.

Posted by Dan Revill at December 13, 2009 8:56 AM

comment #12

VoiceOfReason says ...

Hey retard, I left a spoiler warning.

Posted by VoiceOfReason at December 13, 2009 10:01 AM

comment #13

Dan Revill says ...

Sorry, my bad. First thing in the morning obviously isn't for me.

Posted by Dan Revill at December 13, 2009 10:25 AM

comment #14

bluefugue says ...

A lot of Up in the Air made me impatient because of its "soulless guy learns the Meaning of Christmas" arc, which seems like something Cameron Crowe normally does better. Also, I had plausibility issues about Clooney's motivational speaking. Some of the stuff he preaches is so patently absurd that a) I didn't believe such a socially fluent, likeable guy actually believed it, and b) I didn't believe an audience would attentively sit and listen to it. It's like the movie is just setting up a big straw man to knock down.

The third act redeems the film somewhat, and there's much filmmaking craft along the way -- the little mini-montages of Clooney prepping for travel, the lovely opening title sequence, the rhythmic quality imposed by the title cards and seen-from-the-air shots of various cities. And some of the firing scenes achieve uncomfortably direct emotional impact. Overall, though, it's a long way from my film of the year. I preferred Hurt Locker, Bright Star, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Public Enemies, and possibly An Education and A Single Man.

Posted by bluefugue at December 13, 2009 10:40 AM

comment #15

COCO says ...

The corporate vampires warn their drones....plan....
save....invest (buy our brands and our stock).....
oh and don't forget to shop Walmart on weekends and buy all the Chinese shit your cart can hold......
a shell game.....but even Eloi try to maintain......I
have been ''laid off'' several tmes....in some ways
it can be quite liberating.....I love calling the bill collectors and telling them...."when I get a new job....then I can start making payments''....until
then...$5.00 a month is my budget....they have learned to be understanding.

Posted by COCO at December 13, 2009 10:45 AM

comment #16

Gaydos says ...

I'm still grappling with the heartache of "Coraline" not winning the LAFCA animation award. When I recover, I'll deal with this tempest in a business lounge. But I just can't today. Not yet.

Posted by Gaydos at December 13, 2009 11:16 PM

comment #17