Still Up in the Air

I’m a little miffed. In fact, I’m quite annoyed at the ending of the new Clooney film Up in the Air.

On a positive note, the overall film was fantastic. It was well paced, humorous and the three main actors did their jobs well. The character of Ryan had a suave sense of detachment with just enough vulnerability to make his failed attempt at attachment believable and heartbreaking. Alex was surprisingly sexy as the love interest while providing an understated class that tied in well with her betrayal. Finally, Miss Keener was perfectly annoying with the exuberance and brashness of youth but still able to eat humble pie and get on with it.

As for the plot, it was well paced and thankfully did not dwell too long on the comedic yet tragic aspects of people dealing with redundancy at the hands of a ruthless, efficient bureaucrat. It coasted along nicely for a recent film and didn’t overstay its welcome by dragging it out too long. Also, the messages of emotion/technology/heartbreak/family were handled in a sophisticated way without undue sentimentality or crude pessimism.

BUT… the ending SUCKED!!!!

For those who want to see the film, you could stop reading now but in truth knowing the end won’t really hurt your enjoyment of the film as a whole.

Anyway, the final scenes in which Ryan realises that his dream life with Alex (who turns out to be married with kids and not the free spirit we take her for) is a sham and thus he returns to his life of the empty backpack (metaphor for material wealth, emotional attachment and human contact) riding the airways DOES NOT WORK.

The main reason for this is simple: Ryan is human. As hard as the film tries to portray his lifestyle as a logically reasonable but ultimately empty, he could not possibly go through the experiences he did and not come out as unscathed as he did. While I appreciate that people return to the norm in times of crises to try and cushion the impact of hurt or deception, the experience itself cannot help but alter that norm in some way. Be that in a major way, such as a change in job/wife/country, or in a small minor way, such as a more cautious approach or altered habit, it is impossible for this to have no impact whatsoever.

Now this is where there is certain to be contention. As the person I went to the movie argued, “it was the look in his eyes that showed you how he had been affected.” Also, he does show some compassion and give his newly married sister some of his frequent flyer miles for their honeymoon. But this is not enough.

For me, I wouldn’t have minded whether he accepted his meaningless existence or broken with that in an attempt to find human contact but he had to make that decision. As the film portrays it, he simply picks the default setting without making a conscious decision one way or the other. Now you may argue that this is okay but every person, at some point, must make the decision to continue in the default setting. Even if they choose to remain unchanged, they must have a clear reason or purpose behind that choice and ultimately, the movie does not make this vital decision clear, reasonable or justified.

So Up in the Air left Ryan and me just that but unlike Ryan I’m not taking it lying down in a first class seat.