Cosi (film)

This article is about the film. For the play by Louis Nowra, see Cosi.

Cosi
Cosi poster
Directed by	Mark Joffe
Produced by	Richard Brennan Timothy White
Written by	Louis Nowra (play) Louis Nowra (screenplay)
Starring	Ben Mendelsohn Barry Otto Toni Collette Rachel Griffiths Aden Young Colin Friels Jacki Weaver David Wenham
Music by	Stephen Endelman
Cinematography	Ellery Ryan
Editing by	Nicholas Beauman
Distributed by	Australian Film Finance Corporation Meridian Films Miramax Films Smiley Productions
Release date(s)	28 March 1996
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Cosi is a 1996 Australian comedy-drama-musical film directed by Mark Joffe. Louis Nowra wrote both the screenplay and the play it is based on.

Plot summary

Ben Mendelsohn stars as Lewis Riley, an unemployed young man who applies for a job as a director/drama teacher at a mental hospital. He lands the job and finds himself directing a production of the Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutte. That's an elaborate, demanding piece of theatre. And it's an opera. And it's in Italian. And it's going to be performed by a cast that he must select from among the patients, who only speak English.

One of the patients, Roy (Barry Otto), sweeps everything along before him, organising auditions, selecting cast members, and criticising the director. The cast chosen include three women: Julie (Toni Collette), Ruth (Pamela Rabe), and Cherry (Jacki Weaver); and two men: Henry (Paul Chubb) and Doug (David Wenham). The musical director is Zac (Colin Hay). The enthusiasm of Roy infects the group, and they charge headlong into a memorable production.

Alongside the story of Lewis, the theme of Cosi Fan Tutte is explored as it relates to his personal life. Lewis's relationship with his girlfriend Lucy (Rachel Griffiths), already under pressure, is not helped by a friend called Nick (Aden Young), who seems more interested in testing Lucy's faithfulness than anything else.

The story is loosely based on Nowra's own experience at producing a play (Trial by Jury) at Plenty Mental Hospital in suburban Melbourne in 1971.^[1]

Cast

• Ben Mendelsohn - Lewis
• Barry Otto - Roy
• Toni Collette - Julie
• Rachel Griffiths - Lucy
• Aden Young - Nick
• Colin Friels - Errol
• Jacki Weaver - Cherry
• Pamela Rabe - Ruth
• Paul Chubb - Henry
• Colin Hay - Zac
• David Wenham - Doug

Production

Cosi was directed by Mark Joffe, and produced by Richard Brennan and Timothy White.

Critical reception

In 1996 Cosi was the 3rd most popular Australian film at the Australian Box Office. As at 2010, Cosi ranked 71 on the list of Top 100 Australian feature films of all time as compiled by Screen Australia.^[2]

David Stratton, writing in Variety, described Cosi as "fast, funny and cleverly acted".^[3] He also said it was "warm, generous, sentimental and expert entertainment."^[3] The Curator at Australian Screen said it "has a likeable humour, appealing characters and a compassionate heart. It’s not really about mental illness so much as a tribute to the healing power of performance, and the theatre in general.".^[4]

Not all reviews were positive. James Berardinelli described Cosi as "a half-baked amalgamation of A Midwinter's Tale and Shine, and doesn't excel as either a comedy or a drama."^[5] Cinephilia described Cosi as "a concatenation of caricatures in a predictable story of plucky determination and treacly redemption."^[6]

Box Office

Cosi grossed $2,896,980 at the box office in Australia,^[7] which is equivalent to $4,055,772 in 2009 dollars.

See also

• Cinema of Australia
• List of Australian films
• List of films shot in Sydney

References

1. ^ Teaching Australian Literature, Cosi
2. ^ Top 100 Australian feature films of all time
3. ^ ^{a b} Stratton, David (25 March 1996,). "Cosi". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117905090.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0. Retrieved 22 August 2010. 
4. ^ Byrnes, Paul (nd,). "Cosi 1996". Australian Screen. http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/cosi/notes/. Retrieved 22 August 2010. 
5. ^ Cosi, A Film Review by James Berardinelli
6. ^ Cosi, Cinephilia
7. ^ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

Further reading

• Gillard, G. (2001) H231 Australian Cinema: Unit Information and Study Guide. Perth, Murdoch University Press, p. 65.
• Malone, P. "Cosi"- Review in Cinema Papers, No. 109, April 1996, p. 41.
• O’Dometer, M. "Cosi" — review, 1996, http://rambles.net/cosi.html
• O’Regan, T, (1996.) Australian National Cinema, New York/ London, Routledge.
• Smith, M. "Running the Gamut" in Cinema Papers, No. 109, April 1996, p. 6.

External links

• Cosi at the Internet Movie Database
• Australian Screen, Cosi