‘Looking for Eric’

Eric Bishop (the central character, played by Steve Evets) is a post office worker who conducts his daily life in a delicate manner. He’s a nervous person as a result, it transpires, of deserting his lover years beforehand. Set in Manchester, all his mates in the post office are big Man United fans and there is plenty of amusing banter, as you might expect.

Eric is at the end of his tether and suicide is becoming an option. He is, however, a football fan with a special love of one of Old Trafford’s greatest sons, Eric Cantona. In his bedroom he turns to the wall poster of EC and directs, almost religiously, questions to the inanimate photo. He obviously gets no reply.

Suddenly the real, now bearded and middle aged, Eric Cantona appears in Bishop’s bedroom. This begins to stretch one’s imagination, but soon the viewer is marvelling at the Frenchman’s calm demeanour. He slowly begins to give what must be one of the most relaxed pep talks given by anyone in the world of football.

One is struck by the sharp contrast between the two Erics: Cantona is relaxed and serene compared to the nerve jangling post office worker. This is the start of Bishop’s recovery. However the film’s tension moves up a gear when one of EB’s sons gets in with some rough crims. Bishop discovers that his son, Ryan, has a gun and through a few scenes ends up being bullied and threatened by his son’s gang leader and his fellow thugs.

This is not all about Cantona, football or Manchester, even though all three feature in ‘Looking for Eric’. It is about the vulnerable person and how, through the power of good friendship, the harshness of life can be overcome. There’s a couple of interesting moments along the way: Cantona’s trumpet playing as well as television footage of a press conference in which the Frenchman talks, cryptically, of seagulls and succeeds in confusing those watching it.

The movie culminates with Bishop getting revenge for his treatment at the hands of the thugs we saw earlier. EB’s mates get together and all, possibly a few hundred, don Eric Cantona masks and go after his tormentors. All for one and one for all. The home of the criminal-in-chief is set upon and property is damaged and the thugs are sprayed with red paint. After that encounter everyone, most of all Bishop, feels better. Justice, swifter than in reality, is done.

As movies go these days, ‘Looking for Eric’ could have been worse. All the same this, one feels, is not going to be regarded as the finest work by director, Ken Loach. However you couldn’t fault the acting. It was a master stroke to have John Henshaw onboard and, typically, he shines in every scene he’ s in – a real bonus.

Throughout this film there are many TV clips of Cantona’s many goals scored for Manchester United over the years. Even as an Arsenal fan, I had to admire his skill, which has now gone from playing on a football pitch to now performing on celluloid. Manchester United fan or not, this is a story of male bonding and provides good evidence as to why Cantona is the star he is today. Merci Monsieur!
© Ian Callagy 2009