JIFFest: John and Jane (2005)

I'm not a fancy to a documenter-film. But of course there are some documentary films that really 'hit' me when it's really good. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and Bowling for Columbine to name a few that crossed my mind. John and Jane was unfortunately fell far from it. John and Jane tells a story of a six different characters from India who worked as a telemarketer to the people in the U.S. Each one of them sees United States as the place of prosperity, fortune and incredible wealth. Each had their own dreams which we shall see that they drown to naught to their incredibly dull work as telemarketer. To tell you one thing, after this film, i could really appreciate and feel sorry to those girls (and guys, were there any guys in local telemarketer? uhm, can't tell) behind the phone.

John and Jane didn't 'hit' me, even so far as being a boring film. Fortunately, the film didn't cost me a cent. For those of you unaware, every documenter films that screened at Jiffest were free. The main problem with John and Jane was that i couldn't connect to the characters and their stories. There were vaguely defined names to each one of them, so vague that i couldn't remember who is who several minutes later. There were no fixed-timeline to each of the character, no fixed scenario (well, even a documenter film needs one, if you asked me), and their stories weren't interesting enough. So, you're an Indian? You grew to despise your native heritage after merely talked to the real U.S citizen twelve time-zones away? Big deal. Only one story that interesting enough. I believe his (US adopted) name was Glen. He dreamed of being a billionaire, but sadly, we see him only lived in his dreams unable to wake. He had this timeline for each day up to the minutes. It's sad. But really, if only the other five shared his sadness, the film would have worked.

Another thing that was missing about this film was the lack of conclusion. I was left as clueless as before the opening-credit rolls. The sense of anonimosity that the film-maker offered doesn't shed a conclusive solution nor an entertaining values. As an audience, i was left in audience seat. Observing from outside without ever comitting inside the characters and felt close to naught afterwards.

One thing to applaud though, just like everything's free in Indonesia, the theater was fully booked with long (and crowded) line prior the show (there were no seat numbers so you had to rushes in if you wanted to make sure you had a good spot), but during the film, the crowd were quiet, they were laughing and clapping at the right places. And that alone has made my day. Oh, i just loved civilized people. Thank you.

John & Jane, 2005
Directed by: Ashim Ahluwalia
Running Time: 83 mins.
My Rating: Quite a bore, actually (* / ****)