Looking For Eric
Steve Evets and Eric Cantona in Looking For Eric
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Monday, 08, Jun 2009 08:01
Directed by Ken Loach, out June 12th in cinemas, starring Eric Cantona, Steve Evets, Stephanie Bishop, Gerard Kearns, running time 116 mins.
In a nutshell...
Regret, despair, pride, love, football
What's it all about?
Eric Bishop is a man who is at a crisis point in his life. His feels unfulfilled by his job as a postman, his house has become a doss house and storage facility for stolen goods and his inherited stepchildren barely even know he exists.
Panic attacks and depression are beginning to take their toll on Eric as the regrets of his past continue to haunt him - until a visit from his footballing hero Eric Cantona leads to the realisation that there are people around him that need and care for him.
In the meantime, Eric is forced to face the woman he loved and left behind, as well as deal with a local gangster who is blackmailing one of his sons.
Who's in it?
Directed by Ken Loach, whose previous credits include The Wind That Shakes The Barley and 1969's legendary tale of a boy and his kestrel - Kes - Looking for Eric stars relative unknown Steve Evets as Eric Bishop and Gerard Kearns of TV's Shameless as his troubled stepson Ryan.
Largely populated by actors you may have seen before but will find difficult to place, the only real famous face on display here is former Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona - who plays a kind of philosophical guardian angel to the hero's paranoid postman.
As an example...
"Sometimes we forget that you're just a man." - Eric
"I am not a man. I am Cantona." - Cantona
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Nominated for a Golden Palm this year, this is the type of movie that will do on the festival circuit and will impress critics, but a limited release and characters unlikely to transfer to a US audience, that is probably the most Looking For Eric can hope for.
What the others say
"There are very nice performances from Evets and from John Henshaw as his mate Meatballs. The boy Loach has tucked away a nice goal with this film." - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
"While the ensemble elements give it a ribald edge, they are never as successful as when we're alone in a room with Eric and Eric, or Eric and Lily." - Dave Calhoun, Time Out
So is it any good?
In 1969's Kes, Ken Loach told the story of how a boy from a tough northern town was forced to learn about life through his relationship with a wild bird. In Looking For Eric, the director revisits similar territory - but this time little Billy is big Eric and the kestrel is Cantona.
Acting as a mystical guardian angel-type figure, the French footballer is more than acceptable as a symbol of hope and freedom designed to help Eric through a difficult time and teach him how to grab a hold of his life and start living.
Being a Manchester City fan, I had no desire to sit through 116 minutes of eulogising a former United player who was arrogant and occasionally thuggish. However, in hindsight it was what Cantona stood for as a player that makes him the perfect candidate for this role.
Confident, charismatic and cocky, Eric Cantona was a legend to United fans and for all of these reasons was bloody good at what he did. Here his strange philosophies and bravado are used to give life to a man who has lost all of his faith - and it works beautifully.
Great performances from a cast of relative unkowns and a story that is as gripping, funny, heartwarming and gritty as it needs to be, Looking For Eric is a fantastic film with a great story that is resolved in the most rousing and inspirational way. Back of the net.
9/10
Noel Mellor
Click here to see more clips of Looking For Eric on inthenews.co.uk