"Up in the Air"

The go-to man for downsizing companies who preaches living with as few attachments as possible finds his way of life jeopardized by both technological innovation and a budding romance. The Paramount Pictures release was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture.

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan

"The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We're sharks."

Ray Bingham (George Clooney) is a firer-for-hire, criss-crossing the country to lay off workers whom corporate executives are themselves too scared to fire. The emotional toll of being an axe man doesn't seem to faze Bingham — in fact, he relishes his position.

Bingham uses language meant to re-direct the newly-unemployed's outrage, anger and fear away from their immediate plight. "Anybody who ever built an empire or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's because they sat there that they were able to do it."

He is very good at what he does.

He also has a successful sideline as a motivational speaker who instructs his audience to jettison unnecessary baggage in their life. "Imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It's kind of exhilarating, isn't it? That is how I approach every day."

What motivates him — beyond a proclaimed desire to provide dignity to the chopping block — is a quest for ten million frequent flyer miles and all the perks that most-elite-of-elite statuses will offer. On the road 322 days a year, he racks up more miles for each client that's downsizing. Business is booming, and he is very near his goal.

The great irony of Bingham is that he relishes loyalty with each swipe of his platinum membership card at a hotel or rental car check-in counter, and accumulates even more of it with each air mile logged — yet his success comes from rewarding loyal employees with a separation packet. "This is the job. Taking people at their most fragile moment and setting them adrift."

But times change. Bingham's boss is about to road-test a new protocol for laying off people using video conferencing. No more need for company travel: The "transition specialist" doesn't even have to be in the same state as the firee. It's the brainchild of young Cornell grad Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), whose invented term "glocal" (where the global must become local) will reduce the company's travel budget by 85%.

Unimpressed with the newbie (or perhaps worried about his own employment status, as well as missing out on his 10 million-mile target), Bingham declares Natalie must experience firing people face-to-face before she can implement her plan to fire via Webcam. And so he shepherds her from city to city to witness and participate in the laying-off of dozens.

Natalie tries to prove her mettle, and does a commendable job of sticking to the script ("I wish I was here with better news, however your position here at IGL is no longer available"). But being an unabashed romantic (she'd followed her boyfriend to Omaha expecting marriage, kids, etc.), Natalie is unprepared for the effect upon her of human resources' collateral damage.

During a stopover in Detroit, Natalie tests out video conferencing to fire an older worker. In one of the film's most searing scenes, the employee's disorientation over being let go is further exacerbated by the disembodied face and voice breaking the news to him on a computer monitor. The man's loud sobs can be heard coming through the wall from the next room. Natalie checks off the first name on her long, long list . . .

Not surprisingly, Bingham's personal connections are fleeting — a seatmate on a flight, the neighbor at his Omaha residence where he spends 43 nights a year.

At a hotel bar he meets Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a fellow business traveler who is impressed by Bingham's collection of super-elite reward program cards ("Marriott gives out warm cookies at check-in," she tells Bingham. "I'm a sucker for simulated hospitality"). Their common interest leads to a casual physical relationship, with overlapping travel schedules coordinated by Blackberry.

Bingham's ties to his family are strained, but even the Road Warrior must struggle to resist the pull of his sister's impending marriage, even after a request to take photos of the happy couple's cutout at various landmarks ("kind of like that gnome in the French movie"). Bingham's heart is clearly not into it, hence the many pictures staged at (convenient) airport terminals.

Of this year's Best Picture nominees, "Up in the Air"'s plot most matches the zeitgeist of the day, when unemployment straddles the dougle-digit mark. But it is also a story of compromise and self-denial — how people use their work to define themselves; how they rationalize morally murky ethical choices; and how far they may go either to find human connections, or escape them.

George Clooney, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana," has been nominated for Best Actor for "Up in the Air." He'd previously been nominated for Best Actor for "Michael Clayton," and for writing and directing "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Photos: George Clooney

Vera Farmiga received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her previous credits include "The Departed," "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," "The Manchurian Candidate," Orphan," and the TV series "Touching Evil."

Photos: Vera Farmiga

Anna Kendrick was the second youngest Tony Award nominee ever — at age 12 — for the Cole Porter musical "High Society" in 1998. She also appeared in the New York City Opera production of "A Little Night Music" with Jeremy Irons. Her film credits include "Twilight" and its sequel; "The Marc Pease Experience"; and "Rocket Science."

Anna Kendrick's Breakthrough Year Photos: Anna Kendrick

Among the film's cast are non-actors who answered an ad placed by the filmmakers for stories by the recently downsized. Art Hill, Marlene Gorkiewicz and Kevin Pilla thought they were being recruited for a documentary film, and ended up playing laid-off workers, being let go all over again. They wove their own experiences into their scenes. "This is so much more than just a movie," said Hill. "When someone is watching this movie, they can relate to it because it is a true sense of reality."

A Top Oscar Contender's Unlikely Stars

Jason Reitman was a mere 7 years old when his father, Ivan Reitman, was directing "Ghostbusters." He made his directorial debut with the satire "Thank You for Smoking," based on Christopher Buckley's novel. His second film, "Juno," was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, and Reitman for Best Director. He is nominated for Best Director for "Up in the Air," and — courtesy of Writers Guild arbitration — shares screenwriting credit, and an Oscar nomination, with Sheldon Turner for the adaptation of Walter Kirn's 2001 novel.

Best Actor nominee George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis arrive at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday, March 7, 2010, in Los Angeles.

Elisabetta Canalis, Matt Damon, George Clooney and Luciana Damon talk as they arrive at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday, March 7, 2010, in Los Angeles.

Best Supporting Actress nominee Anna Kendrick arrives at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday, March 7, 2010, in Los Angeles.

Anna Kendrick and Sigourney Weaver ("Avatar") attend the Governors Ball following the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday, March 7, 2010, in Los Angeles.

Gregg DeGuire/PictureGroup via AP Images

Vera Farmiga, an Oscar for nominee for Best Supporting Actress, attends the Vanity Fair Oscar Party 2010 held at the Sunset Towers Hotel on March 7, 2010 in West Hollywood, California.