This commentary contains some spoilers and may be better read after the screenings.
Lad, one of the central characters in Two Big Feet, behaves very like a conspiracy theorist. He is buzzing with the latest theories about aliens and cryptids and the official lies told to cover them up. When his girlfriend decides to leave him, he attempts to demonstrate his commitment to her by booking a romantic holiday for them to hunt for Nessie at Loch Ness. His best friend, who is leaving the country and doesn’t know how to tell him, decides to dress up as Sasquatch to give the heartbroken Lad the best possible time on a camping trip.
It is easy to see where the comedy might come from in this scenario. What could be funnier than seeing a conspiracy theorist who has already driven away his girlfriend being duped by a man in a gorilla suit? After all, conspiracy theorists – when they’re not being terrifying – are amusing fools.
But Two Big Feet is not that film.
You see, Two Big Feet is also big in wit, insight, spirit, and kindness. Lad – performed with exquisite delicacy by Luke Rollason – is no cipher; he is a sweet, vulnerable man. And Bud, as played by Oliver Woolf, is so movingly dedicated to his best friend’s happiness that what could be farcical becomes instead lyrical, charming, and very moving. Tonally, the film avoids satirical disdain and slapstick and produces something subtle and satisfying. Billed by its director as a tragicomedy, the film is a bittersweet study of friendship, laugh out loud and tearjerking, silly and sublime. When Lad first runs around the wood, in and out of focus, laughing and finally coming to rest in a freezeframe, I think it is one of the most heart-stirringly gorgeous moments in any film I’ve seen this year.
The film itself is a reason to cheer, but so too is the way in which it was made. Undeterred by the often-impossible challenge of getting funding, director/writer/editor Noah Stratton-Twine made the film on a microbudget. An inspiration to everyone waiting to make their first film, Two Big Feet makes perfect use of simple locations, natural light, and an improvisatory acting style. It is a testament to the ingenuity and creative brilliance of all the talents involved that Two Big Feet not only exists but looks spectacular on the big screen at one of London’s most iconic cinemas.
Two Big Feet challenges and unsettles an understanding of what comedy does, and we love that at LOCO. The choice of typeface in the opening credits reveals a passion for cinema history, but at the same time the film succeeds in being innovative and extraordinary. As a love story focusing on the friendship between two sweet but flawed people, one of whom believes in monsters and the other of whom is willing to dress up as one, full of joy and sadness, faith and dishonesty, generosity and loss, it is a film of rare and wonderful qualities. We are enormously proud to be giving it its London premiere and look forward to seeing its successes in the months and years to come.
2025
Directed, written, edited and scored by Noah Stratton-Twine
Luke Rollason (Lad)
Bud (Oliver Woolf)
Jack Redmayne (Mike)
Honor Koe (Eleanor)
Kenichiro Thomson (Frank)
Samiah Khan (Laura)