Buscando a Eric

The recent World Cup in South Africa brought everyone's attention to soccer (which most of the world calls football), but movies such as "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Looking for Eric" show why we should pay more attention to it. The Fall's Steve Evets plays down-on-his-luck postman Eric Bishop, who in his mind gets advice from footballer Eric Cantona (playing himself). Through this, Eric reconnects with his family. But when his son gets involved with a group of thugs, Eric has to take charge.

This is only the third Ken Loach film that I've seen (the others were "Poor Cow" and "Kes"). As I understand it, Loach usually focuses on political topics in his movies. While this one isn't really political, it's still one that I strongly recommend. Everything about it feels so realistic. I'd never even heard of Eric Cantona before this. Without a doubt, the best scene in the movie is the home invasion towards the end.

From 'Cathy Come Home' to 'Kes through to 'Raining Stones' to 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' the constant element of a Ken Loach film is striking realism. Everything is so natural, so ordinary that you stop looking at a story unfold on a big screen but look out at life going on through a massive window in the corner of the cinema. People talk like real people talk not to advance a story but to say what they're thinking, they talk over each other, round each other and sometimes stumble over their words. Events don't take place in a neat progressive order – they just happen, the way life happens. And yet Loach still manages to construct and set out these moments and these characters to tell a coherent natural story with a beginning, middle and end. Even when making a fantasy about a middle-aged man and his imaginary friend he doesn't alter the realism and naturalism of his approach one little bit.

Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is on the verge of a complete breakdown moving from depression to despair. He lives with his two stepsons who treat him with contempt and use his house as a doss-house for their mates. He is still haunted by his biggest regret in his life – walking out on Lily (Stephanie Bishop) his first wife and first love nearly thirty years earlier when their daughter was still a toddler. When that now grown up daughter approaches him to help with looking after her child he realises Lily is going to become a part of his life again and he is terrified of how to deal with it or indeed if he can. His friends see that he is falling apart and rally around and try to help but it is his idol Eric Cantona (Eric Cantona) who he turns to for advice on how to cope. Cantona isn't there of course, it's all in his head but you get the impression that Eric B. knows that and that that's not the point anyway. It helps.

Although this is not necessarily a comedy it has like all of Ken Loache's films some very funny moments and some very funny characters. It has some very brutal ones too. A gentle domestic scene is suddenly interrupted by a shocking and very noisy home invasion – Eric's stepsons get caught up with gangland killers – and Eric himself gets (very) publicly humiliated by that gang's leader. But at its heart this is a feel-good film and leaves you with a satisfied grin and a real sense of justice being done. – And Cantona is damn good too!

Man Utd fans will obviously love this and I'm not a Utd fan. However i have to say this is the most entertaining film of Ken Loach's since Bread & Roses nearly a decade ago. It has a good story and is realistically acted by a cast of unknowns and semi-familiar faces. For a film about a legendary and iconic footballer it doesn't ram football down the throats of the non-fans. What the film does do is bring up just how important football is for many people, the way it can unite and connect them in a way that has otherwise disappeared in Britain.

I won't give any of the story away but this film drags you down to a point where you wonder how the protagonist will get out of a very dire dilemma. Yet the ending is so well written you are guaranteed to come out of the cinema smiling at the way just desserts are dished out. The film is brutal in places and the language strong yet the excellent acting keeps it watchable and Monsieur Cantona himself seems very comfortable in front of a film camera (although sometimes his accent makes his dialog a little hard to understand). Cantona plays with his image wonderfully, being both self important and yet always likable and sometimes quite happy to deflate his own ego, being respectful about how lucky he was to have had such a memorable and legendary career without ever being truly arrogant (a fact a certain Mr C Ronaldo could do well to absorb) and acknowledging the role of the fans in his career. Lets put it another way, King Eric will always be remembered and respected in this country by all supporters for his great ability and the respect he had for the game and his club. Ronaldo will just be remembered as a talented but greedy young man who left probably the biggest club in the world for a larger pay packet.

Its difficult for me to say any more without giving away the plot but lets just say this is a film about never giving up hope when all seems lost because sometimes help will come from the most unexpected sources.

The concept of a downtrodden man getting his life back on track has been done many times before, but Ken Loach has managed to put a unique spin on it, as well as imbuing it with a lot of pathos.

Having Eric Cantona in a main role puts this film in a unique position, as there aren't many players like him who are so embedded into the psyche of a city. He in a way represents Manchester, which makes sense for Eric Bishop to visualise him specifically to help him out. Cantona's own story of struggle and then redemption makes him especially suited to helping out someone who is having a tough time in their life, which is why this story works so well.

Cantona himself has a decent screen presence, but Steve Evets puts in a powerhouse performance which really makes the film worth watching. He can really explode with fury, but his quieter scenes of disappointment, anguish and hope are also brilliant.

Loach does well to manage the magical realism side of the story along with his usual kitchen-sink drama, and any conversation is exceptionally interesting because of that. Paul Laverty should also get a lot of credit for his screenwriting work here.

This is something I would definitely recommend.

Don't believe a word of the hype. Looking for Eric is not a Ken Loach comedy. It is, in several places, a very funny film indeed. But it is not a comedy. At a far fetched push you might call it a rom-com or a social satire. Me? I just think it's another brilliant Loachian movie. (Can you believe he's been at it for 45, yes 45, years since he wrote three episodes for z cars)? It's so sad, so desperate in places and then, yes, so funny.

And then there's Eric (Cantona). Ooh ah! And his goals. Ooh la la! And his cod (sorry sardine) philosophising. Oops ah! The Cantona character is inspired, as it is so self-deprecating- not a quality one associates with the French.

I loved this film but why is it so good? I think it's the way Loach makes his characters so utterly believable and, particularly in this movie, sympathetic. And as I always, always say it's because of the writing which is nailed on by long time collaborator Paul Laverty).

One of the back stories, about the elder stepson of Eric the postman (our hero played to perfection by Steve Evets in, I think, his first Loach movie) is really the backbone of the film. The eldest stepson (Gerard Kearns of Shameless fame) gets embroiled in some nasty business with a local gangland thug and threatens to destabilise Eric's whole fragile existence. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and that is certainly proved here.

It's a gem. A true Brit movie classic with a wee bit of the Auld Alliance thrown in.

J'adore Eric Cantona!