In this genial Australian comedy a pleasant
young wannabe- theatre director takes a job as a drama therapist in
a home for the mentally unwell - and has his concept of drama broadened,
to put it mildly. The trajectory of his education is familiar - it's
in a long theatrical tradition - but the details supplied by director
Mark Joffe (Spotswood), working from an adaptation of a play
by Louis Nowra, are fresh and funny. Nobody else in Australasian cinema
frames or times physical comedy with the lovely, deadpan poise of Joffe.
The extraordinary cast includes a shamelessly OTT Barry Otto, Muriel
graduates Toni Colette and Rachel Griffith along with Jacki Weaver,
Ben Mendelsohn and a Babe or three. Lesser known on this side
of the Tasman, Pamela Rabe and David Wenham contribute some of the film's
darker coloration in strong, swift strokes. The small but vital role
of the instition's security guard was intended for Bruno Lawrence. Cosi
is dedicated to him. The title is Italian, Australian Style and rhymes
with Aussie.
The title... refers to Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, rehearsed and
performed by an unlikely ensemble - as therapy, as a modern-day mental
health funding project and as a celebration of joy and beauty of worlds
that have been lost and, more than probably, never existed... If that
sounds too solemn, it is not the tone of the screenplay or the performances.
The film does rely on sentiment. But it is also ironic, vulgar (in its
original meaning of crowd-pleasing and down-to-earth) and irreverent...
clever and restrained, even when at the edge, and the direction combines
verve and discretion... highly entertaining. — Peter Malone, Cinema
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