Looking For Eric (2008, Dir: Ken Loach)

I was forced to watch Kes at school. I haven’t seen a Ken Loach film since. On the basis of Looking For Eric, maybe I’ve been missing out on a lot.

It’s a nice little British film, set in Manchester, about a postman called Eric whose life is going down the drain. He manages to get back on track, mainly through the guidance and advice of his imaginary friend: one Eric Cantona, in fine form.

I managed to watch this film in a very bizarre frame of mind. On my way into the cinema, in Auckland, New Zealand, I bumped into an old friend – a guy I used to know around 6 or 7 years ago, in Manchester, England. So that’s weird enough. Then we go into the cinema and begin to watch this kitchen-sink drama filmed in Manchester – on a huge screen in a really opulent theatre – and some of the settings start to look familiar. Turns out the film was shot in Chorlton – the corner of Manchester where I used to live before shipping out down under.

Anyway, back to the film. There’s some fine humour here – humour that probably wouldn’t translate around the world, especially to American audiences – but for everybody else, it’s a riot. John Henshaw (Early Doors) and Justin Moorhouse (Phoenix Nights) round out the cast and provide a nice bit of support to Steve Evets – former bass player for The Fall – as Eric the postman.

As with a lot of social realism, the laughs only really pay off because life looks so damn miserable. Eric the postman’s main problem is that he doesn’t know how to reconnect with his estranged ex-wife, and his stepson is mixed up with a local gangster. A couple of joints later, and a few visits from ‘King Eric’, and everything starts to get back on track.

It’s an odd choice for a plot device, and the film would probably have worked without him, but Cantona’s appearance elevates the film to somewhere special. He also lends something to the finale of the film, which is an absolute joy to watch from start to finish. I always respect a filmmaker who leaves something important out of the trailer and its accompanying promotional campaign. It restores my faith in cinema; that it’s not all just dollars and cents and doing whatever it takes to get people through the doors.

It is for most filmmakers – but thankfully not all of them.