Up in the Air

Sometimes you watch a movie and it really reminds you of how lucky you are to live the life you live. Such was the feeling I got after watching Up in the Air this past weekend. This movie spoke to me on so many levels I'm not sure I can even describe it. The movie was just so right, I can't emphasize it enough. From the opening shots of the ground from the air to the scenes of going through security, sitting in a lounge, waiting for the plane, renting the car, etc. It was all so much a description of my experiences travelling, it was eerie. Truthfully, this movie was very sad. As always, George Clooney is an amazing actor, portraying, essentially, some sort of version of himself, I assume. The eternal bachelor, with no place to call home, loving the fact that he travels everywhere and nothing (and no one) to tie himself down. Of course, his view of the world is challenged by a younger co-worker and a woman he meets "on the road". He gets to see his life, and subsequently the things that he does to other people, from a different perspective, and eventually gets what's coming to him (karma's a bitch, right?). I loved this movie for a number of different reasons. I started out working in "Corporate America" and left my job to come back to school. I have never regretted that decision, and this movie somehow reinforced that. I loved that Clooney's character was being honored for his "loyalty" to one airline, while his job required him to be hired by managers who were not loyal enough to their employees to fire them themselves. I thought his motivational speeches were so great - this is the bullshit they feed you in the corporate world - forsake everything, sacrifice your life, give up your family and friends, and work your fingers to the bone. All for what? To be fired by some asshole hired by your company to fire you. I loved the character played by Anna Kendrick. She was such an honest character, a grad of Cornell, coming in with new ideas, trying to be as professional and as astute as her older co-workers, but yet failing. And failing (and flailing) so honestly. As young women in the corporate world, we are expected to have it all and keep it all together, and not show any cracks or weaknesses which people might perceive as our inability to do our job. Kendrick's character makes some mistakes that we've all made, is beautifully acted, and is such a wonderful combination of the motivated, dedicated young worked, and yet the dreamy romantic. I have to say I loved this movie because it reminded me that I don't work in corporate America, I have made some of the mistakes that Clooney and the other characters have made, but I've survived them, and I'm on a path for a pretty rad life that I love mostly every minute. This movie made me appreciate that, which, I must admit, is a pretty powerful thing.
PS: for another viewpoint on this movie, head over to Randi's blog, where, apparently, our similar taste in movies is diverging right now :)