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Looking For Eric (2009)

Director: Ken Loach

Time Out rating

Average user rating

32 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

By now, you’ll know that Ken Loach’s new film stars Eric Cantona as the imaginary mentor of a Manchester postman who suffers panic attacks and can’t cope with his two mouthy stepsons. It’s a playful but never gimmicky set-up that turns hero worship on its head, as the cool-headed Cantona appears in the life of scruffy Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) to tell him in that familiar sagely mumble to pull himself together and reconnect with his pals. Oh, and Cantona takes him for a jog, shares Bishop’s spliffs and shows off his own, limited, trumpeting skills.

The pair swap tips on how to cope with the dark times and reminisce over Cantona’s goals, cueing several stirring montages of balls hitting the back of the net. Eric might tire a little of the Frenchman’s gnomic advice (‘I’m still getting over the seagulls one!’), but an amusing, touching friendship emerges that slowly nudges a suicidal man back towards the solidarity of the workplace and the terraces – a fading solidarity that the film both celebrates and laments.

But there are two, not one, intimate, winning relationships at the heart of this film – one imagined, the other real. There’s the rapport between postie and ex-footballer, and there’s the softly-softly reconciliation of Eric Bishop and his ex-wife Lily (Stephanie Bishop), a woman he hasn’t seen for 20 years after their youthful marriage turned sour. They meet cautiously, initially for practical reasons as they share the childcare of their granddaughter, but later they begin to inquire into each other’s lives and try to work out what went wrong many years before. Their scenes together are the film’s highlights, and both Evets and Bishop – neither of whom have had such demanding acting roles before – give honest and warm performances.

The beauty of Loach’s film is that both these relationships feel equally relevant to Eric’s life and Loach’s examination of it. The winning power of ‘Looking for Eric’ lies in this meeting of the magic and the mundane. It’s mainly a film about men – men who fail themselves, like Eric, and men who fail society, like the hoodlums we see tempting Eric’s sons into crime in the film’s less successful climactic storyline, which involves angry dogs, kidnapping, YouTube and gunplay, and feels a little out of place after the film’s quiet tête-à-tête. But then Loach and his writer Paul Laverty are nostalgists for lost causes, and this is their chance to grieve again for the changing world of work.

Their last film, ‘It’s a Free World’, mourned a more moral approach to employment; here they mourn the lack of opportunities for Eric’s sons. But ‘Looking for Eric’ is more of a cheerful wake than a funeral. Football might be corporate, Eric might be going gaga, teenage boys might be all adrift, but what win out are humour, love, friendship and the support of your mates. It’s a Loach film all right – with added optimism and laughs.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2009-06-09 10:41:25

Time Out London Issue 2025, June 11 - 17, 2009

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User reviews of this film

cosmobunter said...

Posted on Oct 29 2009 11:23 Well I liked it. Cantona fabulous whatever he turns his genius to

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raz said...

Posted on Jul 22 2009 10:59 i think people who put one out of 5 are dick heads, it is cantona, living legend and he alone is worth more than one star

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John Clements said...

Posted on Jul 06 2009 10:45 I'm with Ben, posting again to make up for some of the unjustfied comments and scores. Great wee film, great cast, funny and moving. How many films have you gone to see where the the audience ALL applaud at the end.

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Kevin Mc said...

Posted on Jul 04 2009 11:15 What a condescending flick. Postmen, you deserve better.

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Ben said...

Posted on Jul 04 2009 03:25 Excellent film, which is easy going and totally British. Go and see it. I think I should re-post to compensate for the comments of sloan and others who have tried to artificially lower the rating of this film by placing numerous negative remarks! Great Film.

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Phil Ince said...

Posted on Jul 03 2009 13:12 Underpowered working class fantasy. It's the sort of story that you wish could be true - psycho gangsters dealt with by the community showing its collective strength. But there's never any reals ense of threat from the villains and so there's no sense of triumph at their vanquishment either. It is funny in places but its more often dramatically perfunctory.

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Dave said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 08:54 I watched this last week, and thought it was really funny!
The cinema was only 1/3 full, but everyone laughed out loud several times. Characters are excellent, and well played throughout.
The ending is deliberately daft, more than anything demonstrating that the macho posturing of common thungs is only that... all style no substance...
One of the best films I've seen in the past 5 years.
Would recommend it.

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JO said...

Posted on Jun 26 2009 16:25 Charley, I think the fact you dont understand about the wife part or why Cantona appears shows you didnt wtach the film properly, or struggle to follow the most basic plot - he suffered a panic attack at his new marriage etc after the pressure put on him by his fatherfollowing his wedding and first child, that was clearly explained. It was also explained that Cantona came from the idea that in order to help turn your life around you can take on board the traits of someone else you admire or respect. He was suffering from depression at the time clearly, so it is easy to understand this and follow. Or so I thought!! As for the age thing, the audience I was in was a big mix, and I myself am 25, so am not in your stereotyped audience for this film based on who was there with you!!
If people can't enjoy this on any level then there is something wrong with you - I liked it - it was funny and a bit silly but so what? I dont usually like comedys - they are usually all slapstick or Americanised - but this was a good old dark british film with a bit of humour. Not a comedy per se - but a good drama/brit flick, with a humourous tint to it.

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Viva FC United said...

Posted on Jun 24 2009 17:37 There are some crap reviews on this. People giving it 1 out of 5. Lighten up.
The film has some funny and some serious moments. Cantona doesn't play as big a part as I thought and probably some other people thought, but he doesn't need to. It's Cantona. Just to see him standing there, his prescence is fantastic.
Henshaw has some great lines.
It is a great film. I personally liked the references to FC United. Hopefully gives some people an idea to why modern day football is crap. Leave the brainless morons to continue paying over-inflated ticket prices to cretins who don't care about the fans.

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Astralmart said...

Posted on Jun 20 2009 10:24 Glowing reviews, along with the names of Loach and Cantona made me excited to see this film. What a disappointment.
Weak plot. Cantona wasted, his lines reduced to cliched philosophical quotes. The whole gangster finale was just unbelievable.
First time in ages I actually thought of walking out of the theatre. Oh, and how come this gets five stars from Time Out while North By Northwest gets just four...

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Jamesey said...

Posted on Jun 20 2009 09:46 Your youthful critic Charley (aged 11?) spends most of his opening lines complaining about the age of his fellow audience, with a cheap joke about colostomy bags thrown in.
if anyone is interested enough to read my comments below I did agree with Charley on the main point of this section...I didn't like "Looking for Eric" one little bit.
As a 67-year-old pensioner, I always go to the cinema in the afternoon because it is cheaper and usually quieter, not full of potential "Charleys" chomping on popcorn, slurping noxious cola and talking through the film because they are too ill-mannered to appreciate that they are not watching a DVD on a sofa in their living rooms.
Fortunately the Cineworld in my neck of the woods is not over-populated by youth when it comes to serious films.They tend to prefer Chain Saw Torture Odyssey III or some such garbage so we old folk can titter through real films unbothered....

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charley said...

Posted on Jun 20 2009 08:00 Loach can't do funny, its true. i looked around the cinema and the average age of the occupants was about 65. I have no problem with old people but the constant tittering at any attempt at humour (and the sound of colostomy bags filling at 'blue tube' ( a pun on you tube ha ha ha not) was juts annoying. I guess the film cannot be blamed for it audience though.
My main issue is with the pace and a lack of interconection of storylines. Break up with the first wife (never realy explained just 'I had a panic attack and left you for some reason...') Dull and predicatable reunion with first wife stroyline. No real indication of phycosis and then smokes half a joint and POP here is eric cantana to deliver a few one proverbs, but never realy have any sort of relevant role in the film. And throughout the constnt bombardment of awful jokes and linear unralistic characters e.g.
The friend who likes self help books
or
The violent gangster who makes not attempt in any way to be threatening when humiliated by a bunch of people weilding various melee weopans. I felt like shouting someone hit someone but the football mob scene was like some sort of peace march (god I realy cringed at that part)
Things start to look up at the poliece raid (which was one of 2 well done scenes) I think that maybe the film will return to realism surely concelaed weopans and young people getting pushed into violeng gang crime cannot be made into a poor joke??? well apparantly it can and not to give too much away it involves a chicken (on the outside I did chuckle but inside I was crying).
This film is fine if you have no experience of good Ken Loach films and no ability to detinguish between god and bad humour. One for the old people if you want to see a good breakthrough into humour go see happy go lucky (mike leigh)

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DV said...

Posted on Jun 19 2009 19:34 Sympathy and compassion play a large part in whether you will like this film or not. Pretty, pretty good British film-making.

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Jamesey said...

Posted on Jun 19 2009 12:55 Well said Sloan. I was looking forward to another Loach film after two masterpieces, "Wind that shakes the Barley", and one-third of "Tickets".
I am also a keen football follower (sorry about that Sloan!) and was present at the game in 1995 when M Cantona kicked one of my own Palace supporters (a nasty thug who deserved a lot more kicking) and the story became a national one.
I found the hero unsympathetic and self-pitying, Cantona himself is always watchable but his customary cod (or should that be sardine?) philosophy doesn't improve with cinematic treatment.
Loach's ludicrous ending where the "lovable" Man U fans join up to give a vicious gangster his come-uppance is just plain daft.
Sorry, Mr Loach, a palpable miss.

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Sutton said...

Posted on Jun 18 2009 13:54 Whilst an enjoable fim, I think 5 stars is a little excessive. Cantona is great to watch and there are a number of amusing scenes. A few too many cliches and unbeliavable and slightly cliched scenes i.e., the gangsters. Nevertheless enjoyable and well worth seeing,

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