UP IN THE AIR (2009) - Jason Reitman

We live in times which are rich for satire. It’s easy to poke fun at the state of the world, but sometimes satire can wander into the territory of cliché. Yet Jason Reitman’s latest film, Up In The Air manages to be satirical without ever being patronising. It’s a film that is perfectly timed for the world today. A world of unemployment, foreclosures and a society struggling for identity and direction.

Ryan Bingham has possibly the worst job in the world. He is the person companies hire in order to fire their employees. All he sees every day is people on the verge of nervous and emotional breakdown. And yet, he loves his life. He is constantly moving, working out of a suitcase. He travels the US, lives in hotels and counts air miles as achievements. And yet, he is alone. He barely talks to his two sisters, and has few friends. But his life is on course for a change. His company are introducing video conferencing, which would allow it’s employees to fire people from one central location. This threatens Bingham’s lifestyle. So he takes his company’s wunderkind, the developer of the video program, Natalie Keener, on the road to see what exactly it’s like to fire a person.



As I’ve mentioned, Up In The Air is the perfect film for these times. It deals with themes that many people can relate to right now. Unemployment is rife, companies are closing, and people just feel a sense of constant loss. It’s to Reitman’s credit that he uses real people to depict the people being laid-off by Bingham. Apart from a few actors who depict more plot-central characters, everybody Bingham fires are people who recently lost their jobs. Reitman instructed these people to tell the camera what they would have liked to have told their former employers, and the emotion really carries over. It adds gravitas to the film and makes the emotional impact more palpable.

George Clooney has found the role he was born to play. Ryan Bingham is suave and charming. Yet he seems detached from proceedings. It’s isolation he’s chosen, and perhaps, being a movie star and not interacting with ‘normal’ people like the rest of us, Clooney brings some of himself to the role. It’s a great performance from him, and indeed, the rest of the cast. Newcomer, Anna Kendrick plays Bingham’s charge, Natalie Keener. Keener is straight out of college and has something to prove, and yet is incredibly vulnerable when it comes to personal issues. She breaks Bingham’s isolationism down as he shows her that people aren’t just statistics. They’re perfectly cast against each other and lend real credibility to the film.



Jason Reitman’s career has taken off very well. His first three features, Thank You For Smoking, Juno, and Up In The Air are commercial and critical successes that deal with issues people can relate to. Up In The Air is probably the best film he’s made so far. It manages to capture the mood of the average person, while managing to tell a well-rounded personal story. It’s a very very good film, and worthy of the nominations it has received.


9/10

BURN AFTER READING (2008) - Ethan & Joel Coen

The Coen brothers are riding high on success, both financially, and critically of No Country For Old Men. The film was a dark thriller, so to follow it up, the Coens shot a comedy, something they have had success in the past with The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou. In Burn After Reading, they set up a premise that sounds like a thriller, but fill the cast with characters who are both incredibly stupid and belong in a screwball comedy.

Osbourne Cox is a CIA analyst. His alcoholism has caused the powers that be to review his work situation and downgrade his status. Enraged, Cox quits the agency and begins his memoirs, which threatens to expose certain ‘explosive’ elements in his career. Cox’s wife, Katie is sick of Cox, plans to divorce him and hook up with Harry Pfarrer, a serial internet dater she’s been having an affair with. Katie makes a data CD of Cox’s computer information which inadvertently ends up in the hands of Chad Feldheimer and Linda Litzke, two idiotic fitness centre employees who decide to use the information to blackmail Osbourne Cox for money so that Linda can get cosmetic surgery.



And so the ensemble cast have a great time getting laughs and hamming it up. It’s just a shame they’re the only ones really having a laugh. The trailer for Burn After Reading was very promising. It showed some of the craziness of the cast and provided a few laughs. But unfortunately they showed pretty much all the laughs. I warn you, if you’ve seen the trailer for this movie, you will see everything, and I do mean everything coming way before it happens. The little plot twists are blatantly obvious, the laughs are already had and there is little left in the way of mystery. It’s a prime example of why trailers should be kept to the very minimum of footage.

Firstly, the story is very thin. It’s not that complicated despite the many prime characters and their various motivations. The characters themselves are a mish-mash of the sort of dumb secondary characters that have populated the Coens’ films over the years. They’re eccentric and have little quirks that set them apart from the average joe. In this respect, it feels like the Coens are at a stretch to fill the film. There’s not quite enough plot, so the characters are there to distract the audience. Having said that, the characters do provide some laughs. But it’s just not enough to bolster a rather weak script.



The performances, from a very very impressive cast are pretty good. Everyone has played a version of their character before, so they’re in relatively comfortable shoes. There are highlights, though. John Malkovich’s Osbourne Cox is a well-spoken, but dangerously on-edge kinda guy. He’s the person you don’t want to piss off, and Malkovich does this very well. It’s great to see him play this kind of role outside kids’ movies. It’s just a shame there’s not much more of him. Richard Jenkins, a brilliant character actor who’s been around for years has the role with the most meat, despite how little his screen time is. Jenkins’ character really is the most normal character in the film, with motivations that are more real. And Jenkins’ creates a character that’s actually believable amongst many cartoons. And Brad Pitt’s Chad Feldheimer provides most of the laughs in the film. He’s a blonde, idiotic, image-obsessed personal trainer. Yet he does have something of a heart of gold. He’s got ideas that he cannot execute and really dodgy plans. And Pitt plays this brilliantly. He makes Feldheimer someone you feel sorry for when things go wrong for him. Yet you pray for things to go wrong so that the laughs begin. George Clooney’s played the idiot before. In both O Brother Where Art Thou and Leatherheads. His character feels like an extension of those roles, so we’re seeing nothing new there. Tilda Swinton, as Katie Cox also has played the no-nonsense ruthless business type before, and it’s something she does well. And Frances McDormand, who plays the other idiot of the piece has a few choice moments and a few laughs.

Burn After Reading is rather smug. But it’s just not that funny. The ending is far too abrupt and is told to us rather than shown. Which breaks the cardinal rule of screenwriting- show, don’t tell. It’s not a remarkable film, and considering it’s from the Coens, I had hoped for far better. It won’t really jump out in the cannon of Coen films. There are a few entertaining moments, and Brad Pitt continues doing some of the best work of his career. But other than that, it’s all kind forgettable. Burn After Reading is an appropriate title. Because you most likely will forget after watching.


5/10

JUNO (2007) - Jason Reitman

Every year at the Oscars, there’s one film that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the pack. A kind of film that’s no where as big as the others, dealing with smaller issues and featuring a cast of characters that are never meant to set the world on fire. Last year’s ‘Little Film That Could’ was Little Miss Sunshine. I have to admit, by the time I got around to seeing Little Miss Sunshine (the screenings were CONSTANTLY sold out), I felt that the film was over-hyped and not nearly as good as people made out. The same sort of hype surrounds this year’s LFTC, Juno.

Juno is a smart, witty, outsider of a sixteen year old girl. She doesn’t fit in with the rest of the school crowd, playing guitar in a band and being picked on by the jocks. At the beginning of the film, Juno is guzzling SunnyD in order to work up enough pee for a pregnancy test. After three such tests, the results are undeniable, she’s pregnant. She decides on an abortion, but after visiting the clinic, she decides to keep the baby and give it up for adoption. After scouring the want-ads for couples seeking babies, she meets Mark and Vanessa, a seemingly perfect couple. Vanessa definitely wants a baby, but Mark isn’t so sure.



Juno is the kind of film that’s a hybrid of a coming of age story and teen comedy. It’s feels like the film Wes Anderson would have made if he took a stab at a teen comedy and toned down his signature quirkiness. It’s smart, but it’s not the kind of film that fits in with the Superbad crowd. Unlike the similarly-plotted Knocked Up, it’s not a laugh riot, but rather a charming, character-driven smart comedy. Written by first-timer (and currently 38th smartest person in Hollywood, according to Entertainment Weekly) Diablo Cody, the film is driven by the screenplay. Some have accused Juno of being too smart. That the younger characters in the film, Juno and her friends wouldn’t speak as wittily and smartly in real life. But all that is pretty much irrelevant. The script works very well and is damn entertaining. And that’s one of the most important things for the success of the film.

The other key element to the success of a character-driven film like Juno is the casting of the titular character, Juno. Director Jason Reitman made a wise decision in casting Ellen Page as Juno. Page delivered an outstanding performance in 2005’s brilliant thriller, Hard Candy. Juno is a confident, smart teenager. But she’s not wise. She approaches her pregnancy in the kind of twisted logic that would be expected of a young girl who’s more concerned with music and horror movies than the baby she’s carrying. And it’s to Ellen Page’s credit that she plays Juno so well.



Ellen Page is supported by a cast of actors that play their characters very well. Particular credit must be given to Jennifer Garner who plays Vanessa, one half of the couple who placed the ad Juno responds to. Vanessa longs for a baby. She can’t have one herself, and you can see from Garner’s performance that this hurts her. Despite her best efforts not to, she’s pinning all her hopes on the baby Juno’s carrying, and this longing is subtly carried across by Garner. Hers, and her screen husband Jason Bateman’s performances are far better than the performances they deliver in 2007’s appalling film, The Kingdom. Michael Cera, no stranger to comedies plays Juno’s one-time sexual conquest, Paulie. Cera has the nervous teen thing down to a tee, and while his character is less cartoony than that of Superbad, he provides excellent support for Ellen Page. Juno’s father and stepmother are played by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, both excellent character actors.

Juno seems to have split some audiences. Some found the overtly witty dialogue grating and the film itself a little twee. But this isn’t the case at all. It’s a charming film. The script is certainly witty, and while there may be something to be said about how the characters speak, and how overtly smart and witty the dialogue is, it works within the context of the movie, and shouldn’t really be called into question. The actors are all very comfortable with their characters, and the cast is very likable. It’s in no way a perfect film, but Juno is very entertaining. If you failed to even smile at it, I’d call into question whether you do in fact, have a soul!


8/10