RADiO FiLM
TWO TIME LOSER
Director: Doug Fishbone
File under: artist / feature / comedy
Development
Blending African folk tales, garish special effects, Bible-thumping preachers and an anarchic comic sensibility, Two-Time Loser tells the story of two con-men working together in Africa as phony preachers who take advantage of gullible churchgoers. One is a Ghanaian, the other, an American hustler on the run from New York.
The two are soon doing a thriving business ripping off their parishioners, but due to their greed and hubris they quickly run into trouble. Taking part in a witchcraft ritual that goes terrible wrong, they wake up to find themselves fused together, sharing the one body – that of the black Ghanaian - with their two heads sitting atop.
As Bob Dole (played by Fishbone) and Brother Love attempt to reverse the juju magic, a helter skelter road trip ensues. Passing through idyllic rural villages blighted by toxic electronic waste and finally ending up in a factory assembling ‘authentic’ Ghanaian souvenirs imported from China, Two Time Loser is a new kind of black and white movie exploring serious issues without taking itself seriously at all.
Doug Fishbone is an American artist living and working in London. His film and performance work is heavily influenced by the rhythms of stand-up comedy – he was described by one critic as a “stand-up conceptual artist” – and examines some of the more problematic aspects of contemporary life in an amusing and disarming way. He is particularly interested in examining questions of relativity and perception, and how audience and context influence interpretation.