Saturday, January 16, 2010

Anna Kendrick in Up In The Air


Anna Kendrick plays Natalie Keener, a young woman who is intelligent, but is arrogant and inexperienced. When she meets George Clooney's character, they don't like each other at first. He feels that she is trying to sabotage his business and that she is a know-it-all brat and she thinks that he is rude and isolated. But they develop a friendship and learn from one another by the movie's end. Kendrick plays Natalie perfectly. She captures her arrogance, insecurity, determination, guilt, and sadness extremely well and is very funny on top of that. She has great chemistry with George Clooney and both she and Vera Farminga play each other off extremely well in one important scene. She also adds a lot to the film and leads it to it's conclusion. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing this role or playing it as well as she did. Now, I know that not everyone agrees (Sage, Andrew), but I think that Kendrick delivered a great, terrific performance in Up In The Air that certainly deserves a nomination. In a year without Monique in it, she could have easily gotten my vote. What do you think?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uninspired, flat delivery, inexperience, flotsam closeup shots, my god I go on.

joe burns said...

I obviously disagree completely. I might make a post on Vera Farminga as well. Are you going to participate in the Blogathon?

Anonymous said...

Uh, no. I don't associate myself with "Stinkylulu".

joe burns said...

Why not?

Anonymous said...

Long story.

joe burns said...

Was he rude to you or something?

Anonymous said...

No...I participated in the 83 Supporting Actress race, and when I sent my thoughts to him, he inexplicably changed my thoughts to ones he wrote. I guess a tie between Cher and Linda Hunt was too much for him.

joe burns said...

That's weird. He never responded to these comments that I made on one of his posts. Did he say anything about it?

Anonymous said...

He said it was an "error". How was it an error when the comments completely disappeared after he put my real comments on there?

joe burns said...

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense.

Anonymous said...

Yep...

Nigel Maruva Chikukwa said...

I will never forget the scene in which she uses the term "cocoon of self-banishment."

She delivered that line so fervorously,that it makes the young Jodie Foster look like an amateur.

joe burns said...

Glad to see someone likes her too! What did you think of Farminga?

Nigel Maruva Chikukwa said...

I understand that she's a key element in the creation of the sexually-charged chemistry that drove the dialogue.

However, I still think her work in "The Departed" was better. See, in "Up In The Air" she's a bit one-dimensional. Throughout the whole film, she consistently plays a femme famatale with an intelligent stride.

But when Clooney discovers her secret, she poorly conveys the guilt expected of her. I was unimpressed by the empty expressions she made at her door-step...and was even repulsed by the parking lot scene when she says "you were just an escape."

It would have been nice to see more effort, so that we can fully (not partially) see a different facet of her character erasing the sexual deviant we meet in the beginning of the film....

Then would we start speaking of "range."

Anna Kendrick had that range...She was throwing dry, sarcastic humor around at first...then she broke down, allowing her emotions to humanize her------2 facets (range).

joe burns said...

I really liked her, but I was a bit underwhelmed by her the second time, probably because her role is a bit underwritten. Still nomination worthy. Is Kendrick your pick for the win this year or you behind Monique?

Nigel Maruva Chikukwa said...

femme fatale*

And My pick for this year is Monique, yes.
If there is ever a surprise, it better be Julianne Moore since she's over-due...

I only really love Kendrick's performance..I'm not necessarily baiting her to win.

joe burns said...

I also hope that Julianne will win if Monique doesn't. But I think Kendrick is her biggest threatl.

StinkyLulu said...

@sage: So nice to see you've not changed a bit!

@joe: the post is linked. Thanks for playing.

Robert said...

I thought Anna Kendrick was really fun and sharp. A great performance, especially near the end. And, I would say that she is nomination worthy. The only part that confused me was the crying scene. Was it supposed to be funny? Sad? Ironic? All three? I couldn't figure it out from her performance. Great post though! :)

joe burns said...

Robert: Thank you! I think it was all three. lol.
Stinky: Thanks for linking.

RC said...

I'm glad you wrote on Kendrick - what's next for her??? Who knows.

@ Sage...you sound kind of bitter over something not quiet worth the ink...at least that's how I feel.