Do You Eve?

Eat, Pray, Love is a Winner

I am going to get the book today. The film is inspirational, moving, and refreshing all at the same time, infused with soulful performances by Julia Roberts, Richard Jenkins, Javier Bardem, and other wonderful cast members. It is an experience to be remembered. I have seen it twice, I confess with pleasure. Each time, I take away more. . . If you have seen the movie or read the book already, this next thought will make sense to you. I think my word is "journey" becasue to me life is about our experiences along the way and not so much about the ultimate destination. The journey represents the present to me, whereas destination is implying the future, for which we can only plan but of which, we cannot be certain.

2010 is Up in the Air-movie review and more. .

Have you ever had that "now what?" feeling on the airplane when it it takes off and you know you're airborne. "Now I cannot do a thing about it. I'm in the air, and I will be until we land." This is the feeling I get usually when the new year starts. Yes, for better or worse, we are now in the new year. I,for one, am completely glad that we are at last on the new continuum. This last year was full of menacing things that kept going on in my life and those I care about, so I am glad we are now upon a new beginning. I frankly could not wait for the old year to end. In around September, I was already anticipating the holiday season and was ready for home cooking, getting together with friends and family, decorating and even enjoying a walk in the rain and bundling up for the cold weather. By cold, I mean the temperatures in the forties and fifties, maybe thirties, as here in The San Francisco Bay Area it does not usually get much colder. However, about a month ago, we did experience a somewhat miraculous incident with snow falling on the surrounding mountains and in cities nearby, although not quite in our back yard.

Last night, I took my Mom to see the new  George Clooney flick "Up in the Air," and I found George thoroughly engaging in it. However, besides watching George, which is always a pleasant affair, I liked the title of the film immensely, as it implied intentionally or not more than just his character's frequent physical state of being, given his dirty profession of all-over-America pink slip handler. I found Ryan Bingham a very fitting name for this guy. Based on Walter Kirn's novel by the same title, the movie sort of runs like a novel, and regrettably not having read the original, I do not have a means of comparing the two. Ryan seems to be "up in the air" with not only his professional obligations but also in his personal relationships and plans for the future.

Those whose lives he touches through his trade, are also very much "up in the air" after learning that what they have known for the most part in their careers is now over, and now they are going to be in the driver's seats of their own futures. I remembered my own experience with a layoff in 2001, when the company I worked for merged with another and my position was eliminated. Although the effects of the layoff itself were negative initially and took a larger toll than I would have expected for quite some time both financially and psychologically, they also pushed me into analyzing priorities in my life. I was armed with newly found strength, spent more time with my husband and children, cooked, got to know my neighbors and the town I had been living in for five years but hardly explored before, and embarked on new career paths, not without challenges, but always with satisfaction of new accomplishments. After a while, I also stopped regretting having had turned down a great offer that had come about four months prior to the merger, having accepted that what had happened had its own purpose on enriching and improving my life.

Natalie (Anna Kendrick,) Bingham's newly acquired fresh Ivy League college graduate apprentice finds herself "up in the air" with her life's personal and career choices at one time or another. 

Alex, the woman of the moment in Ryan's life, played beautifully by Vera Farmiga, also is "up in the air" with what she is up to, as we know very little about her for the good part of the film.

Although the script went on several interesting tangents, I felt they were not explored to the fullest, and without giving much away, in case you want to see the movie, the ending was one that surprised me. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, not a typical Hollywood ending by any means, but something different maybe than what it was.