Up in the Air

15 / Jason Reitman / 2009 / Up in the Air / USA
George Clooney is at his smooth, sardonic best as Ryan Bingham, a management consultant specialising in the field of firing people. His work takes him around the country, helping him pursue his private goal of accumulating ten million miles in his frequent flyer account. Faced by a threat posed by colleague Natalie, who plans to introduce video links which would ground Bingham, he talks his way into one last round trip, in which he will show Natalie the ropes and persuade his boss to stick with the status quo. With its sharp script and crisp direction, Up in the Air is a pleasurable story of a supremely self-sufficient lone-wolf having to re-assess his priorities.