Two Fists, One Heart

This film is a case of what could have been. Several years ago John Polson, after having read Fazio's script, showed real interest in directing the film. Had he done so, the film would not only have had a talented director at the helm but it would have attracted international interest as well due to Polson's fame. Polson drew the line with Fazio starring in the picture and the writer was determined to star in his own film, so the two parted company.

Enter Shawn Seet as director and the result is a film that, for the most part, drags on to the point of losing the viewer's interest. The development of both the plot and relationships between most of the characters was tedious. It was too obvious what was going to happen.

I thought the film also suffered from a mish mash of acting talent with both stand out performances and cringe inducing ones. Fantastichini, Amalm, and Marais were all good in their roles, however Fazio and some of his mates could do with more acting lessons. Polson obviously saw what was coming.

The one real saving grace of the film however are the boxing scenes. Of all the boxing movies I have seen, these are the most realistic. Apart from Amalm, all the people in these scenes are real boxers who are actually going toe to toe with one another. Not even Raging Bull had more realism in the fight scenes. Unfortunately more was needed between these scenes.

This is one of the most costly flops of the 21st century in Australian film making. Apparently the producer and director could not see that the film has a terrible title which makes it sound like a kung fu movie, nor the fact that the storyline and depiction of characters was tedious and ugly. Costing $9m in Australian dollars might not sound expensive, but given it would have to gross $30m to see that money returned, well, someone ought to be in jail. The film never had any chance of being a success and now sadly only exists as a lame TV gig and a DVD that will never rent. TWO FISTS ONE HEART apparently is from some obscure book about a cranky man forcing his wincing son to be a boxer. For god's sake. The son moans about it all and goes reluctantly thru training until the big Rocky-like match ion the last reel. By then we have seen suburban behaviour that includes street vomiting, whiny girlfriends and nightclub boor drivel. The poster did not even have a logo, but some pen scrawl that if you squinted, read TWO FISTS ONE HEART. At one stage, apparently in some dramatic doorway petulance at home, Dad bellows 'You've got two fists but only one heart!", well, der, haven't we all. Another cliché moment was the kid's Mother moaning 'But he's your father!" in another stupendous statement of obviousness. Hopelessly out of touch with the film going public this TV level nonsense barely ran 3 weeks and vanished back to the lab where all the reels were wiped clean and another emulsion slopped over it and a newer film was printed on the 35mm stock. Not even in the lamest DVD stores did it have a profile. Silly, misinformed and clumsily handled, it only served as a tax write off for the film distributor. Technically quite well made but could easily have been a TV pic costing 1/3 of what was wasted here.