Review: Up in the Air – Telluride Film Festival

Yesterday’s surprise screening of “Up in the Air” at the Telluride Film Festival was well-received.  I posted a copy of the script last week.  The cast includes:

• “Ryan Bingham” – George Clooney
• “Alex Goran” – Vera Farmiga
• “Natalie Keener” – Anna Kendrick
• “Craig Gregory” – Jason Bateman

Although the film diverges significantly from Walter Kirn’s novel, it stands on it’s own new legs.  It’s not as funny as Thank You For Smoking, and it doesn’t have the emotional depth of Juno.  However, as Nicholas Cage paraphrased Jason Reitman in a panel today at the Telluride Film Festival,

“Like Jason Reitman just said, comedy is not about looking for a laugh. It’s about truth.”

“Up in the Air” is the story of a man who fires people for a living.  So, in the wake of the hundreds of thousands of job losses, the film is more relevant than ever. One really compelling anecdote about the film: many of the interviews in the montage of people getting fired are actual non-actors who lost their jobs from Detroit.  Reitman said they did over 60 interviews of recently sacked people.  The emotional honesty shows.  “During the interview, once we started all the technical legalese of firing her, one girl broke into a rash,” Reitman said.

And the fact that Reitman could recognize that he didn’t have enough experience to make the scenes honest, reveals a lot about this emerging director.  If he can maintain this charm and raw honesty in his films, he will only get better as his directing matures.  In the Q&A panel I asked Reitman why he diverged so significantly from the book, creating the whole theme of impersonal digital communication and leaving out Ryan Bingham’s relationship with his sister Julie.  Reitman said that he has been developing this script for 6 years and that he channeled his own questions and issues into the story, even as he was making other films.

“It’s the most personal film I’ve done – maybe the most personal film I’ll ever do,” Reitman said.

He said that “Up in the Air” has a “Thank You for Smoking” beginning, a “Juno” middle and a more pensive ending.  I definitely agree with his assessment (I guess I have to).  The film’s tone shifts dramatically toward the end, from slick and funny to more romantic and then more pensive and sad.  It’s not a tragedy, but it is definitely following the trend of genre-blending.  It’s a medium-roasted, aromatic blend of RomCom, Adventure and personal Tragedy.  It’s character driven for sure.

Timing is everything in Hollywood, and so the release date of this movie depends heavily on the buzz that follows from it’s Telluride and Toronto screenings.  As Jason said today, “We’re strategizing.”  Needless to say, the film will do well.  Clooney is perfect for the role, as a single forty-something professional, cocooned in “casual” relationships and constant travel.   Yes, I’m confident the film will do very well, despite not being Reitman’s best yet.  I say this after my appraisal upon seeing the pre-screening of Slumdog Millionaire last August.  Thanks, Jason Reitman, for another fun and honest film.

And the praise is just starting to roll in.  Needless to say, it’s exhilarating to be the first audience ever for a film of this calibre.  And Telluride has proved a great spot to get the word out about a movie.  And the buzz machine is starteth:

As usual Peter Sciretta has a great, comprehensive review at Slashfilm.

Some people even reviewed it on the gondola ride down the mountain.

Stephen Farber loved the movie, giving it a glowing review at the Hollywood Reporter.