Review: Lost Cos (2023)

Lost Cos (2023) ©Robin de Levita Productions

There is a new independent action film coming out that combines elements of burlesque, cosplay, and action along with a flare of revenge called Lost Cos. We follow Eni, a dental assistant, who has suffered major childhood trauma and the recent violent death of the person she loved. To escape the harsh realities and her pain, she frequents an underground nightclub where cosplay and burlesque are woven into a safe place for those wishing to express themselves artistically and emotionally. One night Eni begins receiving mysterious DMs that taunt her, while at the same time a club regular who dresses up as “Merman” is found dead. Eni soon realizes she must face the trauma and pain she has been carrying in order to become a force to be reckoned with.

Evgeniya Radilova - Lost Cos 2023 ©Robin de Levita Productions

Lost Cos is a visually stunning, surreal, dark humor story that works in comic book elements to tell a tale of loss and revenge. The Cosplay club was an excellent representation of a place where people can either show their true selves or choose to be someone else. I loved all of the cosplay on display. From Roxie the Bartender from Borderlands, to Chappie, to the original designs; all of them looked fantastic. The artistry on display gives Lost Cos its own identity. The club seemed like a natural place for Eni to gravitate to try and escape the memories of her traumatic experiences. There are also some fantastic comic book panel animations done by Adriano Moraes that added more artistic flare, humor, and uniqueness. I also found Siraj Huda’s Rudra and Sha Gupta’s Dalip, the people running the food truck outside the club, to be quite funny. They helped give a breather between the darker scenes.

Evgeniya Radilova, Zoë Vnak in Lost Cos (2023) Photo by Jeffrey Smith Georges - © Robin de Levita productions

Eni is played by Evgeniya Railova. Not only is she able to convey the weight she is carrying from her past but she also gets to be a badass. At one point she is wielding whips that are on fire. Eni’s fighting skills felt authentic. The brutal fights Eni that is involved in were well choreographed and shot. Railova got to show a more emotional side to Eni with her scenes with Lia, played by Zoe Vnak. Zoe doesn’t get a lot of screen time but the scenes she has with Railova are touching and you can feel the love between the two. Later in the film, the rather scary character of Viktor shows up, played by Tony Naumovski. Thanks to Naumovski’s performance, Viktor was fun to watch even though he was a bad guy. Adding more humor are our detectives investigating the death of Merman. They are played by Mark McCullough Thomas and Ross Degraw. Their back and forth felt authentic and had me laughing quite a bit. I enjoyed the wide variety of characters although it did make it challenging at times to keep track of them all. They do all eventually connect, but there were a few times I felt removed from Eni and her story.

Lost Cos (2023) © Robin de Levita Productions

Lost Cos is not perfect. The narrative is messy, the lighting in some scenes makes it hard to tell what is going on, and some of the editing could have been better. It makes up for these weaknesses with a strong main character and artistic identity that makes it more than just a basic action/revenge story. If you enjoy comic book films and cosplay, then you should check it out.

Lost Cos (2023) © Robin de Levita Productions