Jason Reitman's new film world premiered early today at Telluride. The usual reliable Anne Thompson has the early reaction (she says it is a definite award contender):

Telluride Watch: Up in the Air Will Fly
Folks lined up for two hours on a rainy Telluride day to get into Up in the Air. Hundreds were turned away. Writer-director Jason Reitman (and obsessive airline mile collector) played the crowd like a pro, hoping that the movie would live up to their expectations. He didn’t need to worry. The director, who debuted Juno here two years ago at the same theater, delivers a winner. Loosely based on Walter Kirn’s novel, Reitman’s updated movie, which he started working on six years ago, has become, with the economic downturn, far more timely. It’s a witty, charming and moving exploration of a world we all recognize.

It’s about the loneliness of a long-distance air traveller, a commitment-phobe not unlike George Clooney, who decided to stare that aspect of himself in the face, Reitman said after the film. “To know me is to fly with me,” says Ryan Bingham, who wings around the country to gently but sternly deliver lay-off news that bosses are too chicken to do on their own.

The movie reveals where we are now. The opening credits set the tone, as a zingy cover of “This land was made for you and me” accompanies a montage of fly-over spots. Bingham starts up a flirtation with a fellow-traveler (Vera Farmiga) as they slap down rival credit cards and compare flier miles and mile high club banter. He wants to break the 10 million miles mark—in the past year he spent 43 days at home. The rest he was on the road. She seems to be his perfect match.

But times are changing and Ryan’s air-travel miles are endangered when his job as a downsizer no longer requires travel: they will give the news via video conferencing. Young corp exec Anna Kendrick (Rocket Science) shadows Ryan as he attempts to show her the more human face of downsizing. The movie reveals the gap between the tech savvy younger generation and their elders. At one point Kendrick is on the phone with her boyfriend and says, “I don’t even think of him that way, he’s old.” Clooney does a double take in the mirror. She later tells him he’s in a “cocoon of self-banishment.” Looking lean, fit and grey, Clooney opens up here, moving from ****ily confident “I am a rock” status to yearning vulnerability.

The movie does not offer easy solutions. Reitman interviews 25 real people who lost their jobs, who are genuinely moving. He uses a song about job loss given to him by 52-year-old Kevin Renick during filming on audiotape. “I like to ask questions with my movies,” Reitman said at the Q & A. “This is the most personal movie I’ve made and could be the most personal movie I’ll ever make.”

Award season beckons. This one is in the hunt.

Looking forward to this one.

When does it open?

Dec 4, at least in NY/LA

Way, way too early of course, but this seems to me to have the feel of a contender to win best picture - the right zeitgeist, the third Reitman success in a row, the Clooney attachment, likely big hit, maybe with the preferential balloting a lot of top three votes

Kris Tapley joins in the bandwagon.

Jason Reitman looks like a very possible adapted screenplay co0winner (even if this does best picture, my guess would be at this point Bigelow for director).

REVIEW: “Up in the Air” (****)
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:42 am · September 6th, 2009
Telluride Film Festival

Jason Reitman began adapting Walter Kirn’s novel “Up in the Air” five or six years ago. The country was on better economic turf, he wasn’t married, he didn’t have a child. He was drawn to a book jacket with a quote from his friend, “Thank You for Smoking” author Christopher Buckley, enchanted by a lead character obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles who lives a single-serving lifestyle from airport to airport.

Today, unemployment rates are skyrocketing, tangible human connectivity is becoming a relic of another century, Reitman has settled down with a wife and daughter and futures all around are uncertain. But in some ways, there is hope, a sense of turning an all important corner. By the end of “Up in the Air,” that is just where Reitman has left his protagonist.

Meanwhile, Kirn’s novel has been transformed from an otherwise unremarkable example of corporate comedy into a piece at once deeply personal and serendipitously relevant. This is one of the year’s finest films.

George Clooney stars in perhaps the role of his career (one certainly drawing parallels to his own lifestyle) as Ryan Bingham, a career transition counselor who zips from hub to hub 270 days a year. In a nutshell, he is part of a third party firm hired out to corporations for the purposes of firing discontinued clientele. He lives a life of isolation, a stranger to his Midwest family, who sees him rarely and kills his commitment-less buzz anytime they call with an update.

He has airport check-in down to a science, stereotypically zeroing in on those who are quickest to follow behind at security, Moonwalking out of his shoes as he does so, his luggage immaculately packed, his system a work of streamlined art. When he isn’t letting people go in the name of other companies, he gives motivational addresses meant to steer attendees clear of the extra baggage in their life, their commitments, extraneous relationships, anything that keeps them from living a life as he believes it is meant to be lived: in motion.


Ryan is, for lack of a better cliche, an island unto himself.

This extravagantly absentee lifestyle is interrupted when Natalie (Anna Kendrick), a 23-year-old corporate-minded upstart, introduces a new technology to Ryan’s company that can allow the job to be done remotely, cutting down on travel costs, amping up the frequency and, essentially, rendering people like Ryan obsolete.

With Ryan objecting on the basis of unsubstantial delicacy with this lack of a personal touch, the film introduces its first paradox. While he may be perfectly content to fly about the country with little more than one-night-stands to show for personal connection, he understands the importance of looking people in the eye, in the flesh, when they are at one of their weakest, most insecure moments.

It is the beginning of a compelling arc that goes into deeply emotional territory before Ryan is set off on his newly enlightened course by film’s end, something like a phoenix risen from the ashes of a selfish, unfulfilled existence.

George Clooney sticks the landing with his performance in the most modest manner imaginable. There will be flashier performances this year, certainly more memorable ones. It isn’t the actor’s finest work to date and he will likely give better performances in the future, but it is doubtful he will ever have the opportunity to be this authentic and to stare character parallels such as these directly in the eye ever again.

Ryan is a man happy to be single, without children, a playboy of the sky. He was written with Clooney in mind and the actor deserves a glass raised high for tackling, however subtly, his own image in this way.

Anna Kendrick is wonderful as a naive firecracker vulnerable to the typical stings of youth: love lost, ambitious dreams, professional inexperience. As Alex, a love interest who brings out the most refined detail in Ryan’s characterization, Vera Farmiga hints at deep waters and complex emotions that live in her expressions, her steady gaze. The two in tandem make for an intriguing set of diverging paths for Ryan, the choice of his life path laid bare.

But the star of the production is Jason Reitman, who has crafted a screenplay both profound and entertaining, one with comedic rhythms that sing and emotional beats that resonate. That the effort is wrapped, on the surface, in a very timely tale that will hit the zeitgeist at just the right moment is testament to his patience with the project, one that has been nourished from a harmless romp, through a life accentuated by significant change, into a work of art.

I have no problems being forthcoming with the fact that this film hit me on a personal level. In my view, authoritative criticisms of films that don’t carry across an indication of personal impact are in some ways suspect. Everyone brings something different to the table.

Perhaps the film settled for me at the right time in my life, a crossroads of understanding the necessity to plunge into life, to grow up, to recognize the power of our relationships with people, etc. But as a friend reminded, everyone is at this crossroads, regardless of age.

“Up in the Air” speaks to this. It finds a universal rhythm and lives in that space, making for one of the most effective works of the year.

I'm looking forward to this as well even though it sounds like the Academy's support behind it will amount to little more than Crash-style faux-liberalism. An Education, Bright Star and Precious all seem too small to win the big prize so that leaves this film, Inglourious Basterds, Nine and The Hurt Locker as the likely contenders. The Weinsteins probably don't have the money to push both Inglourious Basterds and Nine. The Hurt Locker will be forgotten by the memory-challenged Academy. So that leaves Up in the Air to battle whichever flick Harvey gives his support. Regardless of which one he chooses, I'll be rooting for Up in the Air as I'm tired of his manipulations.

quote:

Originally posted by LonePirate:
I'm looking forward to this as well even though it sounds like the Academy's support behind it will amount to little more than Crash-style faux-liberalism. An Education, Bright Star and Precious all seem too small to win the big prize so that leaves this film, Inglourious Basterds, Nine and The Hurt Locker as the likely contenders. The Weinsteins probably don't have the money to push both Inglourious Basterds and Nine. The Hurt Locker will be forgotten by the memory-challenged Academy. So that leaves Up in the Air to battle whichever flick Harvey gives his support. Regardless of which one he chooses, I'll be rooting for Up in the Air as I'm tired of his manipulations.

You don't seem to put any stock in "Invictus" which seems to have the CLINT EASTWOOD and NELSON MANDELA factors in its favor.

My concern with "Up in the Air" is I do not know if Jason Reitman will be nominated for director with so many possible nominees for highly technical movies (Peter Jackson- "The Lovely Bones", Rob Marshall- "Nine", Kathryn Bigelow- "The Hurt Locker", etc.). Still, that may not be as much of a factor as in the past with this crazy ten nominee year.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pacinofan,

For me, I don't put any stock in any film not publicly screened and credibily reacted to - it's just my preference to take a wait and see attitude, including for Invictus.

(I have stated that I fear that for me it will be a lesser Eastwood film; that doesn't mean it might not be pure Oscar bait and be a solid contender.)

After the Gran Torino snub last year (and I appreciate it was less Oscar-baity to its credit), I wouldn't be surprised to see Eastwood not nominated for director even if the film gets in (as one of 10 which of course will make it easier).

As of now, I'd say we may have two solid contenders to be thought of a potential best picture winners: The Hurt Locker (although I think its abysmal box office likely severely damages its chances) and now possibly Up in the Air. Up maybe (with the preferential voting), although I'm not quite there yet as a possible winner.

The rest we have yet to hear anything solid yet.

If Up in the Air is a solid best picture win contender, I'd imagine Reitman gets nominated - even when we expected Juno to make it two years ago, a lot of people thought he'd be snubbed, but wasn't. If this gets better reviews than Juno, and is just breaking out as a hit in early January, I'd guess he'd be a very possible nominee.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: seanflynn,

quote:

I'm looking forward to this as well even though it sounds like the Academy's support behind it will amount to little more than Crash-style faux-liberalism.

Not sure what you mean by faux-liberalism; I'm not even sure what Reitman's politics are (he's Canadian of course, so even if he is a Progressive Conservative he'd be considered a moderate in the US).

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:

quote:

I'm looking forward to this as well even though it sounds like the Academy's support behind it will amount to little more than Crash-style faux-liberalism.

Not sure what you mean by faux-liberalism; I'm not even sure what Reitman's politics are (he's Canadian of course, so even if he is a Progressive Conservative he'd be considered a moderate in the US).

Reitman is a self-described Libertarian and said he connected to the novel "Thank You for Smoking" partially for those beliefs.

I believe LonePirate is saying Hollywood may react positively to the story of "Up in the Air" because of our current economic and political realities. Not that the film particularly reflects Jason Reitman's political beliefs.

That's what I mean by the zeitgeist factor - best picture winners often have an "it made sense at the time" connection, which of course also makes films popular with the public.

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
That's what I mean by the zeitgeist factor - best picture winners often have an "it made sense at the time" connection, which of course also makes films popular with the public.

My worry is that the public may react to corporate downsizing onscreen the same way they have reacted to Iraq War films. Sure it is part of our current political reality but it is nothing the people want to pay to see. It may hit too close to home... even in a comedy.

People aren't comfortable about discussions of abortion, yet Reitman somehow managed to get around that problem.

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
People aren't comfortable about discussions of abortion, yet Reitman somehow managed to get around that problem.

Up to a point. The issue comes up in "Juno" but Reitman did not have to make abortion palatable to the masses (which may be impossible as even a harder movie like "Citizen Ruth" somewhat wimps out in the end on the topic). "Juno" is about teen pregnancy and adoption. It is not about abortion. It is about not having an abortion.

P.S.
And by opening up this topic I hope we do not have to hear post after post of Pucifer's prattle. I do fully expect him to hate "Up in the Air" site unseen, and perhaps never seen, just because of Reitman directing it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pacinofan,

The thing about Clooney starring in it is that he gives it the requisite conventional/safe liberal sheen, as well as opens it up to be a safer general audience film. And although I hear what you are saying about popular skittishness, it never occurred to me that this could be a barrier in this particular case.

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
The thing about Clooney starring in it is that he gives it the requisite conventional/safe liberal sheen, as well as opens it up to be a safer general audience film. And although I hear what you are saying about popular skittishness, it never occurred to me that this could be a barrier in this particular case.

When I first heard about this movie all I knew is that it was a comedy about a man trying to reach 10 million frequent flyer miles. That did not seem like an Oscar film plot. It also does not sound like a comedy plot certain to get people buying movie tickets... and George Clooney movies are not always popular. Now that I know more about it the film certainly sounds like an Oscar film but I still have strong doubts about popular appeal. I think it will take great reviews to make this a popular hit and it does seem like those may be on the way.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pacinofan,

The reviews of course are the missing factor; we will know about that for sure shortly.

Certainly when the bulk of the press sees it in a few days in Toronto, their expectations will be sky-high, which can sometimes lead to disappointment.

I am so looking forward to this film! I have always had my eye on it since I first heard about it, but I always said I was going to wait until the festivals time to see how well-recieved it is. Well I am so so happy that it has become an instant success! Jason Reitman is one of my favorite filmmakers, I think Thank You For Smoking is one of the greatest films, so I am so looking forward to this film!

I'm going to revise my predictions soon and place this film in the Top 10! I'm just wondering which film I will take out, and the same goes for the Adapted Screenplay category (which Reitman deserved to be nominated in 2006 for TYFS and was shut-out for Borat - which did that even have a screenplay???)...

Todd McCarthy/Variety review from Telluride - quite favorable, although he makes it sound more like a crowd-pleaser than an award winner; he's quite high on Clooney's performance:

Up in the Air
A Paramount release presented in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios of a Montecito Pictures Company production, in association with Rickshaw Pictures, in association with Right of Way Films. Produced by Daniel Dubiecki, Jeffrey Clifford, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman. Executive producers, Ted Griffin, Michael Beugg, Tom Pollock, Joe Medjuck. Directed by Jason Reitman. Screenplay, Reitman, Sheldon Turner, based on the novel by Walter Kirn.

Ryan Bingham - George Clooney
Alex Goran - Vera Farmiga
Natalie Keener - Anna Kendrick
Craig Gregory - Jason Bateman
Jim Miller - Danny McBride
Julie Bingham - Melanie Lynskey
Kara Bingham - Amy Morton
Maynard Finch - Sam Elliott
Bob - J.K. Simmons
Steve - Zach Galifianakis


By TODD MCCARTHY
The tale of an aloof, high-flying exec whose millions of frequent-flyer miles can't keep him permanently above the emotional turbulence he seeks to avoid, “Up in the Air” is a slickly engaging piece of lightweight existentialism highlighted by winning turns from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. Just as “Thank You for Smoking” and “Juno” did in their own ways, Jason Reitman's third film cleverly taps into specific cultural aspects of the contemporary zeitgeist, although in a somewhat less comically convulsive manner. Unlike many of the characters onscreen, nobody is going to lose any jobs on the basis of their work here, as a buoyant commercial flight lies ahead.
Clooney has scarcely ever been more magnetic onscreen than he is here as Ryan Bingham, a gun-for-hire who specializes in the dirty work some corporate bosses don't like to do themselves, firing employees. He's great at his job, expert at suggesting to devastated workers that new horizons in life can now be explored, and he loves the lifestyle of spending most of his time in business class seats and upscale hotels; given that, at last count, he's on the move 322 days per year, his modest apartment in Omaha resembles an undecorated motel room.

Having adapted Walter Kirn's novel with Sheldon Turner, Reitman generates much merriment in the way he lays out the particulars of Ryan's m.o. Ryan delivers occasional motivation speeches on how you should be able to fit all that's important to you into a backpack, and he practices what he preaches by traveling with just one carry-on bag. He receives top-level, members-only treatment at airports, car rental desks and hotels and, picking up a like-minded woman, Alex (Farmiga), in a lounge one night, impresses her by revealing he's very close to achieving 10 million-mile frequent-flyer status.

Even though the central plot doesn't involve Alex, her easy-come, easy-go relationship with Ryan represents the heart of the movie, simply because the rapport between the two characters — and, causally, between the actors — is so terrific. It's not the hardest thing to write a seduction dance, but Reitman and the thesps keep the sex and keen sense of play between these two birds of a feather sparking through the entire running time, as the two keep working out ways to make their complicated schedules coincide. They're simply one of the most fun couples seen onscreen in many a moon.

But there's got to be a fly in the ointment, a bird in the engine, and her name is Natalie (Anna Kendrick), a grad-school know-it-all and high-tech whiz who convinces Ryan's boss, Craig (Jason Bateman), he can slash expenditures by firing people via video conferencing. Faced with a drastic lifestyle change at best and his own walking papers at worst, Ryan is ultimately obliged to accompany the humorless, pursed-lips hotshot on a tour to show her how he does it, and then attempt the changeover.

Reitman peppers the picture with montages of workers reacting to their sudden professional irrelevance; the incomprehension, fury, bewilderment, sense of injustice, hopelessness and despair with which these people express themselves is touching, honest and true, even if it is punched up for rhythmic and sometimes comic impact. These interludes obviously speak to modern times in a particularly pointed way, as does the fact that someone as accomplished, together and unimpeachable as Ryan could suddenly be perceived as a dinosaur due to a dubious technological advance.

The generational divide also gets a workout in the way the film humorously addresses the way the twentysomething Natalie sees the world, as opposed to the more seasoned perspectives of Ryan and Alex. Natalie thinks she has it all figured out, with career, relationship and life path all configured onto a timeline. For his part, Ryan believes he's got it all worked out as well, and he does, as long as he doesn't mind the lack of much human connection, not to even mention marriage or family, which he scoffs at as not for him. And perhaps they're not.

All the same, he's forced into an unanticipated degree of personal engagement when he attends the northern Wisconsin winter wedding of his younger sister, Julie (Melanie Lynskey), to regular guy Jim (Danny McBride). Bringing Alex along for fun, and just maybe because he feels something special for her, Ryan suffers the scorn of older sis Kara (Amy Morton) for having escaped the family ordinariness but also uses his mediating skills to put some difficulties right. But some final twists provoke a Peggy Lee is-that-all-there-is questioning that pretty much come with the territory of spending much of one's life alone.

Impeccably groomed and with a ready answer to almost any remark anyone can throw at him, Clooney owns his role in the way first-rate film stars can, so infusing the character with his own persona that everything he does seems natural and right. The timing in the Clooney-Farmiga scenes is like splendid tennis, with each player surprising the other with shots but keeping the rally going to breathtaking duration.

Kendrick has the difficult task of playing the spoilsport; you can't wait for her comeuppance, which is humorous when it does arrive. Complicating the animosity of Ryan and the viewer is the fact that Natalie is actually good at what she does, if still in need of life experience, which she begins to collect. Bateman's role could have used some layering to at least clarify his relationship with Ryan, as to whether it's personal or strictly professional.

Stunning overhead shots of numerous American cities provide sharp transitions as the characters zip around the country, although much of the action is played out on interchangeable airport-area locations. Production values are sparkling.

Camera (Deluxe color), Eric Steelberg; editor, Dana E. Glauberman; music, Rolfe Kent; production designer, Steve Saklad; art director, Andrew Max Cahn; set decorator, Linda Sutton-Doll; costume designer, Danny Glicker; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), Steven A. Morrow; supervising sound editors, Perry Robertson, Scott Sanders; re-recording mixers, Gregory H. Watkins, J. Stanley Johnston; associate producers, Ali Bell, Jason Blumenfeld, Helen Estabrook; assisistant director, Blumenfeld; casting, Mindy Marin. Reviewed at Telluride Film Festival, Sept. 5, 2009. (Also in Toronto Film Festival — Special Presentations.) Running time: 109 MIN.

Stephen Farber reviews for H'wood Reporter from Telluride - Farber I believe is freelancing; he is equal or ahead of Todd McCarthy in experience and credibility (he was once New York Mag's critic, has authored many books etc. - in other words, way above par for this magazine).

Anyway, it's an all out rave, he compares Reitman to Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Alexander Payne. And again, makes Clooney sound great - might he win his second Oscar?

Up in the Air -- Film Review
By Stephen Farber, September 06, 2009 07:02 ET

Bottom Line: Laughs and heartbreak meld seamlessly in this brilliant character drama.
Telluride Film Festival

TELLURIDE, Colo. -- Cynicism and sentiment have melded magically in movies by some of the best American directors, from Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder to Alexander Payne. Jason Reitman mined the same territory in "Thank You for Smoking" and his smash hit, "Juno," and it's pleasing to report that he's taken another rewarding journey down this prickly path in his eagerly awaited new film, "Up in the Air." Boasting one of George Clooney's strongest performances, the film seems like a surefire awards contender, and the buzz will attract a sizable audience, even though some viewers might be startled by the uncompromising finale.

Reitman embellishes Walter Kirn's acclaimed novel about a man who spends much of his life in the air, traveling around the country to fire people for executives too gutless to do the dirty job themselves. The character is just about as unsavory as the corporate pimp played by Jack Lemmon in Wilder's "The Apartment." When a character begins as such a sleazeball, you know there must be a moral transformation lurking somewhere in the last reel. That redemption never quite arrives for Clooney's Ryan Bingham, which is one of the things that makes "Air" so bracing.

Before the movie plunges into deeper waters, it seduces us with some of the most darkly hilarious moments to grace the screen in years. Clooney's crack comic timing makes the most of Ryan's acrid zingers as he savors a life without the vaguest threat of commitment. Trouble arises when his boss hires a young dynamo, Natalie (Anna Kendrick), who has the idea of cutting costs by instituting a program of firing people over the Internet instead of in person.

Ryan sees his footloose lifestyle threatened, but he is forced to take Natalie on a cross-country odyssey to train her in the niceties of delivering bad news deftly. The interplay between the world-weary Ryan and the naive Natalie makes for delicious comedy, and Kendrick plays her role smoothly. There's also a wonderful performance by Vera Farmiga as Alex, a dynamo who clicks with Ryan because she's also seeking no-strings sex on the run. ("Think of me as you with a vagina," Alex tells Ryan helpfully.)

Eventually, Ryan begins to question the assumptions that have ruled his life. His encounters with Alex and Natalie threaten his complacency. We can't help worrying that the film may take a sentimental turn, but miraculously, it never does. A scene in which Ryan returns home for a family wedding and talks a reluctant groom (well played by Danny McBride) into going through with the nuptials is a beautifully modulated sequence that manages to be poignant without ever falling into slop. Reitman is a rare director with heart as well as sardonic humor, but he always knows when to pull back. There is only one false note -- a montage sequence near the end in which several of the people fired by Ryan burble about their love for their families -- that simply restates the obvious.

But if this tiny gaffe reveals a touch of insecurity on Reitman's part, the rest of the film is perfectly controlled. The entire cast is splendid. A couple of "Juno" alumni pop up: Jason Bateman is the smarmy boss who makes Ryan look humane, and J.K. Simmons has a single scene that proves just how much a master actor can convey in two or three minutes of screen time.

The razor-sharp editing by Dana Glauberman gives the film a breezy momentum even while it's delivering piercing social insights. Holding everything together is Clooney, who bravely exposes the character's ruthlessness while also allowing us to believe in his too-late awakening to the possibilities he's missed. It's rare for a movie to be at once so biting and so moving. If Ryan's future seems bleak, there's something exhilarating about a movie made with such clear-eyed intelligence.

Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Danny McBride, J.K. Simmons
Director-screenwriter-producer: Jason Reitman
Based on the novel by: Walter Kirn
Producers: Jeffrey Clifford, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman
Executive producers: Ted Griffin, Michael Beugg, Joe Medjuck, Tom Pollock
Director of photography: Eric Steelberg
Production designer: Steve Saklad
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Danny Glicker
Editor: Dana Glauberman

No MPAA rating, 108 minutes

This message has been edited. Last edited by: seanflynn,

Yea. Glad Reitman is getting good reviews. I really liked "Thank You For Smoking" and I thought "Juno" was pretty good.

I am looking forward to this.