A visually expressive and engaging film, LOST COS takes us into the world of cosplay, comics, and burlesque, with an eclectic collection of characters, complete with everything from comic book heroes and villains to two-bit neighborhood hoods and old-school trope detectives, while packaging it all as an action thriller with a blend of live action and graphic novel/comic book animation.
Helmed by Tony award-winner and first-time feature director Robin de Levita and co-written by de Levita and Michael Tosner, LOST COS centers around the story of Eni, a young woman with a tortured childhood at the hands of an abusive mother, and that trauma recently compounded by the violent loss of the love of her life. Always enamored with dress-up and costume, now as an adult Eni has found a joy-filled escape from the past that haunts her at LOS COS, an underground club where cosplay meets burlesque and fantasy meets reality in a cacophony of sight and sound. Dental assistant by day (and inadvertently aiding and abetting her boss in his gambling action), Eni lives for the nights when she transforms into her cosplay character of choice – the rage and vengeance-filled Vampireniya.
Things get a bit tense at LOST COS when a cosplayer dressed as “Merman” is found washed up on a beach. Putting the regulars and club staff on edge, Eni gets even more rattled when she is cyberstalked in private online chats by someone who not only knows her cosplay alter-ego but also her past love.
Interspersed throughout our visits to LOST COS are the side plots of varying degrees involving our gumshoes and their seeming ineptitude as they investigate the death of “Merman” and attempt to go undercover at the club, the dentist and his bookie complete with a slapstick-worthy tooth to the eye moment, Eni’s visits with her psychiatrist, a kindly wise cabbie, two gaming obsessed outcasts determined to finally make their way into LOST COS, and of course, total hilarity from a pair of food truck owners and their interactions with various cosplay customers, just to name a few. While some of the story set-ups fall by the wayside and remain unanswered, we do get the complete answers as to Eni’s trauma and what happened with her lady love, albeit well into the third act. But it’s when we see Eni and her reactions and actions to injustices and bullying of friends that the heart of the story and the film’s themes come through loud and clear.
The strength of the film lies with the visuals, not to the least of which is an early montage of Eni in super-hero training mode, complete with a skillful and stunning fire dance with Eni in a ring of fire as her ever-present flaming whip cracks the air. A beautifully lensed scene complete with an overhead shot that shows us the precision of Eni’s talents. Exhausted from this training and emotional release, we then see her rousing from sleep where she is swathed cocoon-like and hanging upside down like a vampire bat.
But it’s the glitz and glamour and smoke and mirrors of the club itself that fills the senses with a mix of stand-up comedy, burlesque performance, contemporary cosplay scenes, and cosplay costumes that are breathtaking art, surpassing even some of the showiest ever seen at Comic-Con, with pulse-pounding music as a never-ending backdrop. One minute we’re laughing at emcee Murray Hill who plays himself, the next mesmerized by a performance from “Gemini”, or a burlesque turn by “Pearl Noir the Queen of Burlesque” and, of course, the “Birth of Vampireniya.”
Much of the film is propelled by montages and although well done, the film does feel a bit montage-heavy. However, one shining element that never disappoints and has you craving for more are the animated sequences by Adriano Moraes done as pages and panels of a graphic novel or comic book with each sequence illustrating a superhero adventure of a specific cosplayer. Vibrant and alive, these sequences are stylized and polished with unrelenting energy and beauty, coming to life with gorgeous pops of rich saturated color that inform the world in which each character resides. (Just wait until you see the “Merman” animated sequence!) We understand the appeal of the cosplay world and come to know and understand the characters we meet along the way in LOST COS through these animated sequences.
Performances are solid with Bulgarian actress Evgeniya Radilova leading the way as Eni. Radilova is the real deal as she demonstrates great emotional range and texture with the same skill and deftness as the physicality of her fire dancing and cabaret performances. She commands the screen be it with an empathy or rage-induced action-packed one-on-one fight. Theatre-trained and already an accomplished stage actor, the role of Eni is tailor-made to the multi-disciplined talents of Radilova.
As the love of Eni’s life, Zoe Vnak brings a quiet sweetness to Lia that sets the stage for what drives Radilova’s Eni. Real comedy comes from Sha Gupta and Siraj Huda as our food truck owners while Ross Degraw and Mark McCullough Thomas as Detectives Tom and Jerry, respectively, have impeccable comedic timing with their banter. Toss in Jason Furlani as Chief Dawson and the laughs keep coming. Tony Naumovski is perfection as bookie Viktor.
But it’s the beauty of the cosplayers and their costumes at LOST COS that shine the brightest (“Gemini” is to die for drop-dead gorgeous), all of whom are beautifully showcased by cinematographer Michael Tosner who also serves as co-writer. Lensing is crisp and sharp for action sequences while inside the club we feel the intimacy, the secrecy, and the softness of smoke and mirrors as the camera has a fluidity moving through the club and the crowds. Nice widescreen shots in the third act speak metaphoric volumes for Eni and her journey. A perfect bookend to the claustrophobic opening images of Eni as a child enduring the brutality of her mother.
The icing on the cake of LOST COS is its music, the needledrops of which fuel the frenzy and the fantasy and add much more than what is sadly, a rather weak score.
While at first blush LOST COS might seem chaotic or messy as we vacillate between comedy, sweet love, physical assaults, stalking, dramatic flashbacks, sight gags, and sorrow, it is this seeming messiness that builds complexity into this world where you can be whoever and whatever you want to be, and thanks to the editing of Tayler Braasch, comes together to create a sumptuous feast you’ll want to visit again and again…just like your favorite graphic novel or comic book.
Directed by Robin de Levita
Written by Robin de Levita and Michael Tosner
Cast: Evgeniya Radilova, Zoë Vnak, Ross Degraw, Mark McCullough Thomas, Jason Furlani, Tony Naumovski, Rocco Nevers
by debbie elias, 12/07/2023
LOST COS is in theatres on December 8, 2023.
