John & Jane

2005
7.5| 1h23m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 14 September 2005 Released
Producted By: Future East Film
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.futureeast.com/film/john-and-jane
Info

A new form of observational documentary that borders on science-fiction, John & Jane follows the stories of six Call Agents that answer American 1-800 numbers at a Mumbai call center.

Genre

Documentary

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John & Jane (2005) is currently not available on any services.

Cast

Director

Ashim Ahluwalia

Production Companies

Future East Film

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John & Jane Audience Reviews

CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.
BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
James Groover I fully and completely refuse to Be subjected to services provided by Indian people. the bad thing is American people Have become lazy so they subcontract these companies from overseas to answer telephones when they should be paying Americans who need jobs to answer phones.I make a phone call The Indian operator answers. And I would hang up on his a**. I don't have to be subjected to a person who is supposed to know how to speak English answering a telephone for company that is supposed to have American English speaking answering services and get the Indian version can't even make a decent Sentence, much less be able to understand anything that I have to say about anything that I need to contact the company about.My suggestion is start boycotting anything that has to do with any company that wants to use an Indian operator because I absolutely refuse to speak to most companies and I will boycott till the end of my days.
arcdanku The explosion of call centers in India is an intriguing topic for a documentary, & I had heard a lot about this movie. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. The characters were just not that engaging, & in no case it went really deep into the call center life. In one case, a woman spends a lot of time explaining she is a natural blond. Now that's typical in an Indian call center! I would have liked to know more about where these people come from. What's their education. Their family. I also think it was centered on one city, and on sales only, whereas call centers also have tech support, customer service, market research & a whole lot of other activities. There were these shots of Mumbai that seemed to scream "look at me, I'm so artsy!" Further, overall the drudgery of call centers didn't really some through. Also, I would have liked to see the management side, how they react to the callers. I would have liked to see someone who got burnt-out (which is very common in call centers). There were some sequences that were very competent, but overall it felt it just didn't form a satisfying story, which is what a documentary should be.
OlivieFOURNIER This excellent new film from India is showing for the first time in Europe at the Berlin Film Festival. After great reviews at Toronto, I expected a very stupid film like Super Size Me... no, this turned out quite surreal - what a scary, weird and odd world this film shows us. And it is all real - our strange 21st world! The film was voted one of the best undistributed films of the year in the US by both The Village Voice and Indiewire, who have their pulse on new independent cinema."In vast, fluorescent rooms, thousands of ambitious young Indians talk to people in Kentucky, California or Idaho. Bridging continents by telephone, they pitch products and soothe frayed consumer nerves. As they troubleshoot, they dream of America. As they dream, they change. What is it like to transport yourself to a remote land you've never even seen? How does it feel to live so far outside your own body? Welcome to the world of offshore call centers. John & Jane is an astonishing look at the souls of the outsourced. Shot on 35mm and composed with unsettling grace, this documentary finds an entirely original and fitting language to express the eerie dislocation of virtual work. The lives it depicts are real, but the film's approach gives those lives the scope of speculative fiction."The music is really beautiful, too - very ambient and chilling - with electronic musicians from all over contributing to the score, including Germany's Thomas Brinkmann and Japan's Minamo.For anyone who likes films that don't leave you easily - this is a must see!
Christophe Menager I got to grab the last two tickets to a sold-out show of "John & Jane" at the Toronto Film Festival. This film is absolutely brilliant! At first, you aren't sure what the film IS really about...yes, of course, we are told it is a documentary about Indians who work at night answering American 1-800 calls, but beyond that you keep asking yourself "what is the point? where is this heading?" - some people I spoke to just didn't get it at all and felt "let down" by the lack of a conventional structure or storyline…which is EXACTLY what I'm getting to… About 30 minutes into the film, after you have spent time with two call centre workers who (understandably) hate their jobs, you get a character who goes by the telephone alias "Osmond" - he tells you that, in fact, he quite likes the job and is on his way to becoming a billionaire! Osmond is followed by a mysterious girl called "Niki Cooper" who loves the job even more than he does, explaining that the call centre is like her family and that she loves all her callers! This film f**ks with your head… Slowly, a picture of transformation emerges. No, there is no straight story line here, but each character builds on the character that precedes it…until you arrive at the near-cyborg "Naomi" – who looks American but is clearly Indian. Her face is bleached white and hair is synthetic blond. Yes, then the "story" is clear as day – the Indian has "become" a sort of virtual American, physically, mentally and emotionally! Mind you, this is not science fiction or fantasy. It is a "documentary" although the film subtly destroys many documentary conventions. It is actually a piece of experimental film-making in the guise of a pop-doc, which is why viewers looking for a film on outsourcing may be disappointed. "John & Jane" uses outsourcing issue as a way to bring viewers in – but the film is clearly about the idea of "America" as a utopia for so many people in the world.If you are looking for a straight-up BBC film on call centres, STAY AWAY. On the other hand, if you have an open mind and are adventurous about new kinds of film-making, "John & Jane" may be just the thing for you.

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