An unusual little British slice of magical realism, Looking for Eric follows Eric (Steve Evets), a postman and soccer fanatic whose life is spiraling out of control as he’s dealing with the guilt over abandoning his ex-wife (Stephanie Bishop) while dealing with his new granddaughter, and finding out that his stepson (Gerard Kearns) is involved with a known gang lord, with the gang lord’s gun, used in a murder, hidden in the floorboards of Eric’s house. Suddenly he begins hallucinating famed Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona (playing himself), who provides him with cryptic motivation and philosophical assistance in postman Eric’s darkest hours, leading him to come up with an inspired solution to his problems.
There’s an interesting mix of wispy and heavy here, meshing several potentially serious, kitchen-sink downer plotlines with a light, deft, professional touch from director Ken Loach, who has been doing this since Kes in the late ’60s, and there’s a charmingly comedic quality to the eventual climax that ends up being wonderfully satisfying, so much that it obscures the danger of the situation and the reprocussions that it all might have. Cantona reminded me of “Humphrey Bogart”‘s appearance in the Woody Allen comedy Play It Again, Sam, and he has a nice deadpan charm to him (I’m not surprised this acting thing is more than a dalliance for him, because he’s got a natural ease that works well for him). It’s nothing I loved, and it’s nothing I’ll particularly remember tomorrow, butLooking for Eric is a fun little treat and worth spending a bit of time on.
[Grade: 7.75/10 (B/B-) / #14 (of 65) of 2009]
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