Up In the Air

I wrote the following to a friend:

Here's a man who does what he has to do, but does it with both efficiency and some compassion - he's not heartless, in my judgment, but has to steel himself in order to keep functioning. What else should he do?

It's a commentary, for sure, on systemic powers ... and how dehumanizing it is. That Clooney goes to his sister's wedding, takes the photos with their cardboard cutout, and actually goes to Chicago reveals the heart. That she's married, and he's back on the road reveals just how hard it is for everyone to break out of the mold we've all created, or the mold that's been created for us.

The young lady (Anna Kendrick) is, in my view of things, so typical of the young today - full of themselves, as Mary Pipher says of her youthful self in her book, "The Shelter of Each Other" ... and it's Clooney, however, who can see just how shallow she is, and on the road, she comes up against the reality of what they have to do, and when she hears of the lady who jumped and killed herself, she quits - her moment of redemption.

Clooney, if you will, sacrifices himself to save her. Clooney is lost up in the air; she, perhaps, will find her footing, or even her soul.

And he's off to do what he does best - and he does with as much as is possible, without self-destructing. Someone has to do it. And when all is said and done, he gives a round-the-world trip to his sister and her husband. What he can't do for himself, he at least can do for others. Another Christ-theme - "Come down from that cross and save yourself."

Clooney isn't interested in saving himself, but in some remarkable way, he's save the young lady from herself ... and discovered, perhaps, that his life is up in the air.

Clooney's boss, of course, reflecting the worst in corporate culture. The real people in the film reveal the devastation of job loss.

The moral themes of this film are oozing out all over the place. If anyone is lost here, it's Alex, played masterfully by Vera Farmiga.

The ending is real ... Clooney's character is what he is ... is there no grace for him? I think there is ...

This is a terrific film ... I've now seen it three times, and I've laughed and been moved each time.

Don't wait for Netflix; see it now.