Up in the Air

GO AND SEE THIS FILM.  Seriously.

It's been getting rave reviews, and before the Golden Gobes was generating a lot of buzz about Oscar nominations.  I love a good rom-com as much as the next person, and can think of far worse ways to spend a few hours than staring at a giant image of Mr Clooney.  So it didn't take too much convincing to get me along to the Curzon on Saturday night.

As it turns out, calling Up in the Air a rom-com is a bit like describing Jaws as a nature documentary.  In 109 minutes, this film raises issues about relationships, families, job security, marriage, getting older, expectations and aspirations, and why any of these things matter in the first place.  Chances are it will tip everything you thought you knew about life and the choices you’ve made out of your head, stir it all around for a bit and then pour it all back in; slightly unsettled, perhaps fundamentally unchanged, but certainly not un-examined.



In the end it only picked up one of the six Golden Globes it was nominated for. And, as much as I loved the film, I can kind of understand why.  It's very understated, and although the performances from all three leads are brilliant, they are almost too good - so natural that it's easy to forget they are actors on screen and not just people whose lives we've stumbled into for a couple of hours.

The ending (without wanting to give too much away) is somewhat ambiguous; something which would normally drive me crazy, but here it seemed to fit.  Although the part of my brain that is curious about what happens next is now nagging me to read the book for some answers.