Cosi

Funny and touching. An unusal blend of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti and the life of an unemployed stage director who takes a job out of desparation with a mental institution as rec director. Must see scene occurs at the end of the final credits.

Mark Joffe is a not so known director but the kind of director who happens to make movies you can't help falling in love with. Forget all the sentimentality that is given by Oscarblockbusters or the usual crap with Hugh Grant as this is where the heart beats. It's a simple human story in where there is place for tears and laughter, it's about some psychiatric patients who have decided to make their own operaversion of Mozart's "Cosi". It are the little things in life that deserve attention and that's what Joffe is showing us, and the real star in "Cosi" is as said before Toni Collette, simply wonderful what the star of "Muriel's wedding" is doing here.

Normally I would draw the line at using mentally ill patients as characters to be laughed at or derided in any way. They are really sick people and have some big problems to overcome. Some may be rehabilitated while others will always be hopeless cases.

But this film shows that even schizophrenics and drug addicts have dreams and goals in life and who are we to pass judgment on their wildly impossible desires? Just imagine a bunch of crazy people wanting to act out a Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutte. They can't act; they can't sing:they can't speak Italian; and none of them has had any experience in stage production.

Lewis (Ben Mendelsohn) has just been appointed at this mental hospital and it seems that all patients are eager for him to produce this opera. Roy (Barry Otto) is overwhelmingly enthusiastic. "Why shouldn't we reach for the stars?" he asks.

There is a great assortment of unstable uninhibited players whom Lewis finds are uncontrollable. Certainly they would be any producer's nightmare.

There are many farcical situations in a typical Aussie style. Some of them are funny; some I thought were very ordinary. But as the film proceeds we do find that we are starting to warm towards the characters. In some strange way we are beginning to understand their plight and that their lives of emptiness are being filled by something worthwhile. May be it's a form of escape.

The characters are played by well known Australian actors. Doug is played by David Wenham. Doug likes to dip cats in petrol and set them alight. Julie (Toni Colette) gives a touching rendering of the song "Stand by me", a message perhaps for all of us.

Needless to say the film ends with the final elegant production staged for those in authority. While there is general acclamation at the end, stage gadgetry can still go wrong as every actor knows.

This is a light-hearted romp and a real tonic for the blues.

I agree with most of the reviews already posted, but would like to add that I found the characterizations to be what endeared me most to this production. I'm a recent explorer of opera and have seen movie versions of some of them. This can stand toe to toe with any movie version of an opera in terms of its ability to reach gut level. I cried when the house lights went down and the curtain up as the six on stage were transformed into something bigger than themselves and so participated in the healing mystery that mankind has been experiencing since the first dramatizations and plays were enacted.

I found this film by accident the other night, occupying the late-night slot on terrestrial. I'd never heard of it, but from the first few moments of watching it - it was already 20 minutes in - I was rolling with laughter, and completely keyed-in to the fine display of ensemble acting, occasional surreal moments, lovely characterisations and brilliant humour. The film was touching too without ever being mawkish.

A real treat.