I hate it when films make me cry

[andrewducker]

We saw Up In The Air last night, which I'd been looking forward to since hearing the rave reviews emanating from the US. It was, to put it mildly, fantastic.

It's not often you get a solidly good movie with good writing, direction and acting that doesn't take any short cuts, spoon feed the audience or take the cheap way out. And there's one scene about halfway through that just blew me away (the three way conversation, he says, in as unspoilery a manner as possible).

Plot: George Clooney plays a career transition counsellor (he fires people for companies that are too cowardly to fire their own employees) who spends his entire life on the move - living in hotels and thinking of the airports and airplanes as his real home. His life is turned upside down when his agency decides to start firing people using teleconferencing instead. And that's as much as I can tell you without spoiling it. Let's just say that they needed someone as charming as George Clooney to make the main character likable - and that he really is. I was worried the movie was going to be terribly bleak, but it really wasn't.

Highly recommended.

Comments

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

I'll add it to my list.

The last movie I cried over was Gladiator...

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we saw it last night too, and it was indeed fantastic (and the conversation is indeed awesome).

Do you do a lot of travel for work? I noticed that during the opening 10 minutes, there were about three people in the cinema absolutely cracking up at George Clooney's travel preparations, and I suspect they all fly a lot...

My only complaint was the ending, which felt a bit "we're a serious film therefore we can't have a happy ending or they'll revoke our Art License."

Oddly, the film felt very similar to "The Proposal", which was touted as a Sandra Bullock romcom but was actually about half rather good character study.

[andrewducker]

Oh, we loved the ending. If they'd given it a happy ending it would have felt all wrong to me. He'd only just realised his life was making him unhappy, and for him to instantly find happiness with a woman who he'd hooked up with for intermittent casual sex would have felt like a romantic comedy, which is more of a fantasy than I felt this film was. I felt the ending was hopeful - he was starting to work out what it was he wanted out of life (the shot of him staring at the departure board was perfect), and the younger woman was getting her life pointed in the right direction too. It was hopeful without just handing everyone a happy ending.

My only complaint was that I didn't think that she'd have given him her home address.

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

I missed the bit where she DID give him the address, so I assumed he acquired it by taking her check in/out receipt.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Or she gave him her business card.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Oh, they definitely shouldn't have gone for THAT happy ending. That was very well done indeed. But it felt like the film wanted at least a slightly up ending, and the filmmakers just couldn't find one.

[andrewducker]

Aaah, I felt it was a slightly up ending :->

[asim.livejournal.com]

I usually don't go to see "that kind of flick", but the first trailer (the one where Clooney does the speech) sold me on it.

I love this film with an unholy passion, flaws and politics and all. Part of it's just Clooney, who I think is an awesome actor and appears to be a god person, as well. But the whole structure, and the way it all falls at the end just made me squirm and rage with a quite understanding, inside.

'cause that's me, sometimes. I love flying, and I'm eager to get out of the house and GO. And yes, there's all that you can't leave behind, as well, and that balance is what the movie's about, and makes that initial trailer even more amazing, in retrospect (when you can see why they juxtaposed the visuals with the speech the way they did...)

Anyway. It didn't suck. :)

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping an eye on Jason Reitman's career since his early shorts (particularly Consent) and all three of his features have been doozies. He picks great scripts and great actors to work with (J K Simmons and Jason Bateman appear to be part of his evolving repertory company). If you enjoyed this, do track down Thank You For Smoking and Juno.

[sneakingyoda.livejournal.com]

Huh. I wanted to see this one, but feared the repeated love plot.

I'll make sure to see it now though.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

There are several 'three-ways' of various sorts. Without giving too much away, which precisely were you thinking of?

[andrewducker]

The conversation in the bar between the three leads.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is an excellent scene, with each person opening up and discovering something new about themselves at the same time.