George Clooney's Ryan Bingham is something of a cypher for our early 21st century world - attempting to escape the harsh realities of a troubled world by focusing on transient, easily quantifiable consumable goods and rooting himself in an untenable nomadic lifestyle. "Up in the Air" introduces us to Bingham and his life as a sort of corporate hitman, brought in to terminate employees for executives who don't want to get their hands dirty.

Bingham finds his life threatened by a young, forward-thinking colleague, Natalie, played by Anna Kendrick, who wants to take the terminations online. With nothing to cling to except his unorthodox way of life, he takes her on the road to prove the value of a human presence in these firings. At the same time he's romancing Alex, a fellow road warrior, an apparent kindred spirit. Bingham is forced to confront the consequences of the life he's chosen through these two women, coming face to face with the sad irony of being completely isolated while never alone.

Clooney shines in this role which allows him to play charming, disillusioned, inspirational, and funny - sometimes within the same scene. Though the film offers some legitimate laughs, it is essentially a tragic look at a culture which takes for granted the necessity of connections and is too often drawn in by the allure of quick, if fleeting, pleasure. 

This marks Jason Reitman's third film - he previously directed the excellent "Thank You For Smoking" and "Juno" - and shows a mature, measured style that is equal parts commercial and artistic. So many of the shots in this film are composed in a beautiful symmetry - structured, ordered, cold yet strangely comforting. Indeed much of this film is a commentary on the false sense of comfort we find in the many systems and protocols of modern life - the canned, polite responses which make each of us feel like a valued customer; the creation of familiarity through homogenity, and the myriad of other corporate practices referred to within the film as "faux-my" (a portmanteau of "faux" and "homey"). 

"Up in the Air" is one of the best films of 2009 and perhaps an essential film for our time. It can be a bitter pill but one which ultimately has a message for all of us.