Quartier Mozart

Before watching this film one should be aware that post production facilities in Francophone Africa are non existent. Also many of the directors focus on getting a point across not so much on entertainment. This film does speak to a lot of issues in the society, but its special effects and such are not dazzling to say the least, but for low budget and many volunteer and inexperienced actors the film is not bad. It can be confusing if you don't watch and listen carefully. This film is not representative of all of African film, however. I'd recommend viewing some of director Sembene Ousmane's films as well. His works are much longer, but they are, in my opinion much more well done. He often deals with a tremendous number of societal issues, hence the length of many of his films, but despite their length they are well worth viewing. Two of the titles of Ousmane's films that I have seen are "Xala" and "Ceddo".

I must say there are some ratings on the IMDb which do not indicate how good some films are. I wrote similar comments for the Turkish film "Propaganda," a brilliant comedy and cultural study which was alas never released here. There are some films which are also vastly overrated, including a documentary I just saw called "The Realm of the Unreal." "Quartier Mozart" is definitely a better film than is indicated here. It has been a decade since I saw the film at a special screening at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va. I subsequently met the director a few years after that. I have noticed that many tend to give African films lower ratings. I guess the reason for this is that people are turned away by the lower production values in terms of technology. But, films like "Quartier Mozart" give us fascinating stories that we in the West don't see, and certainly not on a daily basis. I also recall "Quartier Mozart" has a Felliniesque surrealist quality about it. I think these two factors are why people give it a lower score than what it really merits. Alas, this film is not on DVD though several African films, such as "Our Father" from Chad, are becoming available. I doubt I will ever go to Cameroon as mostly assuredly many of us will not, but I can't think of a better way to glimpse into their culture than viewing this film. I only wish I could see it again, some how. And, lastly, I do not know if he is still a member of the faculty there but from what I gather Mr. Bekolo is now a professor at UNC.

A really bad little film from Cameroon, one of the sloppiest I've ever seen. The plot concerns a teenage girl who wants to be a man. A witch changes her, and then he spends the rest of the movie trying to get laid. It's riddled with many annoying penis jokes. The script doesn't even remember that the guy used to be a girl. It's as poorly edited as I've ever seen, and every decent part of it is ripped off from Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. 3/10.

Quartier Mozart was a fascinating & enchanting film about relationships. If you are interested in the politics/magic of gender bending, this is a film you should definately check out. The way the dynamics of power are played out due to the role reversals could be considered slightly controversial.

The only criticism i have is that the movie was dark. Not the story line, but the actual picture quality. It was sometimes difficult to see exactly what was going on, however i think the darkness made the movie even more mysterious.

This may sound vague, however the previous commentary was by someone who may not have had the patience to read the dialogue, because this movie was hilarious and fun to watch.

For his debut film, i believe Jean Pierre did a great job examining the sometimes absurd traditional gender roles. The dancing screen had a nice textural effect as well.

I saw Quartier Mozart, and I was like what is this? Where do one go to learn how to make movies like this? I was amazed by the innovation and the originality of a director who wasn't trying to apply any formulae the western audience are used to and at the same time telling a popular story. What is visible is the creativity and the courage of the filmmaker who made this first feature at 22 in his native Cameroon. On the top of that, he wrote, directed, edited and produced this film. How many of people even famous have done that we all know of. We should sometimes be fair with african talent and know when to recognize pure talent! Quartier Mozart is not about the story it's about filmmaking. Jean-Pierre Bekolo has a great future in front of him!