Ryan Bingham is not a man you want to meet. Not because he is unlikable, which he sometimes tries to be, but because Ryan fires people for a living. He flies from city to city, firing employees for companies too afraid to do it themselves. After so many years in the air, his sole personal ambition is to reach a million frequent flier miles, a feat only seven people have accomplished. Ryan lives a solitary life and wouldn't have it any other way.
But Ryan's life is turned upside-down with the arrival of Natalie, a young upstart at his company who pulls him off the road and threatens to outsource his job to a new video-chat system. His last chance to save his jet-setting lifestyle—and his miles—is to take Natalie on the road with him and show her that firing people needs to be done face-to-face. It's a breezy set-up, ripe for one of those industry manufactured summer rom-coms, but Up in the Air surprises by presenting a film that is thoroughly human-feeling.
Here, we have a movie that takes the time to create rich, multidimensional characters. These are people who make us laugh because they are funny, not players who appear always to be reaching for the next punch line. The character George Clooney has developed in Ryan Bingham is not an instantly agreeable one but he is believable. He's that guy you can laugh with even while you mostly feel sorry for him. Anna Kendrick, who the internet tells me is in the Twilight film series but I remember being effortlessly winsome in the little indie gem Rocket Science, takes the role of Natalie, which probably looked pretty one-dimensional on paper, and makes it feel 10-dimensional.
Without punch line comedy, the actors in Up in The Air rely on smart writing, and this is an intelligent, well-written script. There's a bit of the uncomfortable humor that has spread since the success of The Office, but much of the humor is more subtle, allowing the irony of Ryan's situation to play out to a logical—if somewhat unconvincing—conclusion. It's a shame that after developing such interesting, human characters and avoiding being cloying and sentimental, Up in the Air gently veers towards a predictable finale.
Even with a slight, third-act betrayal, the film showcases a great talent in Jason Reitman, who is a strikingly skilled writer/director when his talents are not overshadowed by the aura of Diablo Cody. With Thank You For Smoking, Juno and now Up in The Air, it is apparent that Reitman has a knack for reflecting our contemporary culture in a way that many mainstream films fail to understand. It's not how many pop-culture references you can throw in, it's whether or not we believe in the people saying them.
Cross-published on Ornery-Cosby and Twitch.
How strange it must have been to be tasked with adapting Wes Anderson's eccentric and idiosyncratic live-action style to the animation required for Fantastic Mr. Fox. Mark Gustafson was the brave soul who took on that task when Henry Selick left the project to animate Coraline. During a Q&A session following the San Francisco International Animation Festival screening of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Animation Director Gustafson recalled how Anderson's unyielding dedication to his vision for the film made him very uncomfortable as a professional animator. Though out of his element, Anderson never allowed the once-accepted boundaries of stop-motion animation to compromise his vision. It's a good thing too, as it's Anderson's background in live-action film that most likely makes Fantastic Mr. Fox feel so different from other popular animated fare.
Based on the beloved book by Roald Dahl, Fox is the story of the titular Mr. Fox, a retired chicken thief who risks his happy home life for one last hit on the three meanest farmers in town: Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Spying on their farms from his tree-home, Fox concocts a secret scheme to help himself to their supply of chickens, ducks and cider. It's a breezy set-up and it initially feels like the story might have painted itself into a corner, but it's soon clear that Mr. Fox is less concerned with retaining a tight plot than with creating a rapid sense of forward progression. I'm unfamiliar with the source material, and the slapdash story might have been unavoidable, but it's a negligible concern when the editing and dialogue are as tight as they are in this film.
As a game of one-upmanship begins between Fox and the farmers, we start to see evidence of Anderson's non-traditional approach to animation. Characters often are jarringly replaced with different models—though recognizable, their sizes and shapes look noticeably different—and little imperfections in backgrounds and character design are perceptible throughout. Everything is very DIY and it's clear the filmmakers have chosen to focus on creating a sense of wonder and whimsy over polish and predictability. Instead of pulling the viewer out of the film, the concept of enhancing the gaudiness on screen only adds to its playfulness.
The voice-actors all are obviously in their element working with Anderson; many culled from previous films the director has made. George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Jason Schwartzman are ideal choices for the Fox family, and Dumbledore himself—Michael Gambon—makes for a devilish foil as the most cunning of the three farmers, Mr. Bean. Even with lock-on voice talent, the film is never overly reliant on them, and uses affecting facial close-ups, expressions and silences, which account for a lot of the film's humor.
Though he had little experience as an animator, Fantastic Mr. Fox is recognizable as a "Wes Anderson movie" through and through. I'm not so sure the zany approach used here would have fared as well in live-action—it's a lot more Life Aquatic wackiness than Tenenbaums introspection; but, it bears recalling that Life Aquatic's focus on humor over emotion marked that film as a critical failure. Mileage may vary, but I found Anderson's oddball take on a children's film a blast to watch. As an animated film it feels both daring and fresh.
Cross-published on Ornery-Cosby and Twitch.
Ryan Bingham is not a man you want to meet. Not because he is unlikable, which he sometimes tries to be, but because Ryan fires people for a living. He flies from city to city, firing employees for companies too afraid to do it themselves. After so many years in the air, his sole personal ambition is to reach a million frequent flier miles, a feat only seven people have accomplished. Ryan lives a solitary life and wouldn't have it any other way.
Without punch line comedy, the actors in Up in The Air rely on smart writing, and this is an intelligent, well-written script. There's a bit of the uncomfortable humor that has spread since the success of The Office, but much of the humor is more subtle, allowing the irony of Ryan's situation to play out to a logical—if somewhat unconvincing—conclusion. It's a shame that after developing such interesting, human characters and avoiding being cloying and sentimental, Up in the Air gently veers towards a predictable finale.
