Mountain Fog
LOOKING FOR ERIC
February 4th 2010 07:33
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Before watching, I was not at all sure I was going to like this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. It has a slightly bizarre beginning; as we watch, without explanation, a man we later find out is Eric, drive his car around barely evading oncoming cars, until he crashes. From the blackout, we then see him in hospital complaining that he mustn’t be late for work, he is a postie, (postal worker).
Such dedication I have not been aware of, since the tales of the United States Postal Service, ‘through sleet and snow….’.
Personally, I am used to Australian postal services, so I didn’t buy it. But later on, we find he isn’t that dedicated. In fact Eric, played by Steve Everts, is a hapless kind of dullard, so it seems, who has two teenage boys from different wives, one white, one black, both of whom do as they please and give their sole supporter, their dad, no love, help, friendship or respect and allow their mates to use his home as a temporary storage for stolen goods.
Eric seems a beaten man.
He does have some mates, one being the larger than life Meatballs (John Henshaw), who is constantly reading self help books and instructing, in a very basic and artless way, how everyone can benefit from his latest book. Eric’s fellow posties decide to cheer him up, after wrote off his car, by telling him daft jokes, it is not too successful.
So, led by Meatballs, they gather at Eric’s house and try using his latest self help book, looking within yourself, eyes closed, and imagining being a winner. It doesn’t work, and the whole attempt is disrupted when they accidentally discover a mound of undelivered mail in Eric’s cupboard. His mates all decide to help him deliver the mail. However, this self help event becomes a tipping point for Eric, who mentally materialises his footy hero, Eric Cantona, the amazing French football (soccer) exponent who famously played for Manchester United.
It is a shock for Eric the postie, and in real life it was also a big shock, as the director (Loach) did not tell anyone who would play the part of Eric Cantona, then, as they shot the scene, the real Eric Cantona came out; a nice touch, particularly if you are a mad English football fan, even more so if you are a MU devotee.
However, all this footy referencing does not alienate the non-loving football audience, for the film, directed by the accomplished Ken Loach, manages to skate between gritty realism, fantasy and comedic moments, yet still deliver a social commentary that strikes true, for life in Britain.
We see how naïve young lads get ensnared by older career crims, into their increasingly murky millieu, and just how difficult it is to get away from their clutches.
Eric also has some unfinished business, with his first wife, Lily (Stephanie Bishop), with whom he is still in love, but had abandoned just after they had their baby, due to as undiagnosed psychiatric condition, an anxiety disorder. The breakdown was triggered by his hostile and overbearing father, (Max Beesley), telling him he had well and truly made his bed and now must lie in it, for the rest of this life! Eric’s real problem was, he couldn’t explain why he had panic attacks about the ones he loved, and so he abandoned them both, without apology or reason.
Their daughter, Sam (Lucy-Jo Hudson) with whom Eric had re-established a relationship with, now has a baby herself, and this is when we meet these important personalities, as Eric helps his daughter cope with her studies by babysitting, this in turn reintroduces Eric to his long abandoned ex-wife Lily, putting pressure on Eric’s complex and haunted personality.
Looking for Eric is quite entertaining and although I had no belly laughs, I did take a good natured shine to the characters as they battle through their personal life mazes, eventually to discover you cannot do it alone.
The scarey concept of mobs of English footy supporters clashing with each other in full scale riot momentarily rears its head in the film, but instead of the usual battles, this footy mob is made up of ordinary good citizens, we know as posties. The scenes covering the defeat of Eric and his sons’ enemies is priceless!
Everts as Eric, with the real Cantona
Eric Cantona, unknown to me before seeing this film, is the philosophical sounding board, the moral compass and intestinal fortitude long buried within our hapless hero Eric the postie’s psyche. Cantona makes an interesting balance to the postie character, even more so since Cantona is Eric the postie’s hero, who tries to dismantle the ‘god-like’ status that footy fans erroneously bestow upon their favourite sportsmen. (This was the reason why Cantona wanted the film made.)
In real life, Cantona was known for his bizarre and often opaque adages, and one famous one appears in the credits, a clip of the original interview when Cantona stated, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.” This was apparently an explanation (as I found out researching it) Cantona gave for kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace fan in 1995.
Another interesting aspect of this film, director Loach, not known for indulging in comedy, but more so social commenatry, speaking up for the more powerless in society, is that he withdrew the film from the Melbourne Film Festival, where it was chosen as the opening night feature. Loach publicly stated he would not allow his work to appear because of a protest against projects that were financially supported by Israel.
Here is the actual statement (edited down) given on the Melbourne Film Festival site;
“Looking for Eric Cancelled
Posted 17th July, 2009
The Melbourne International Film Festival has been forced to cancel screenings of the film Looking For Eric from this year's festival following director Ken Loach's decision to withdraw the film from the program.
Mr Loach's decision is part of an orchestrated campaign to target events that are in receipt of financial support from the State of Israel. Loach requested that we join the boycott and as an independent arts organisation MIFF has refused.
The festival has a long tradition of programming films that examine various points of view on the Middle East including the Israel Palestinian question.”
I found it a rather odd, in fact pointless action to take, as it harms your own product, rather more than it makes any constructive addition to a serious international socio-political debate. However, I saw online reviews to be all favourable.
Although the film maybe not be worth an Oscar, it is still very entertaining, with an interesting social commentary cleverly woven throughout. The real art of good story telling is to bring people in and disarm their preconceptions and prejudices, thereby you may leave a seed for more thought and enlightenment.
Screen writer Paul Laverty (My Name is Joe, Land and Freedom, The Navigators ) once again joins Loach in this film, creating a script that is engaging and keeps propelling the narrative and action along at a good pace. Unlike his rather more depressingly realistic works with Loach in the past, this film manages to place a foot in both entertainment arenas, light hearted and dramatic, the combination allowing the psychological and social exploration more palatable.
AWARDS
WON:
2009 British Independent Film Award: Best Supporting Actor: John Henshaw
NOMINATED:
2009 Cannes Film Festival: Golden Palm: director Ken Loach
2009 European Film Awards: Best Actor: Steve Everts
DISTRIBUTORS: ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION
RELEASED on Blu-ray & DVD on February 3, 2010
CREW
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Music: George Fenton
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Production: Studio Sixteen Films
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Budget: £4m
CAST
• Steve Evets as Eric Bishop
• Eric Cantona as Himself
• Stephanie Bishop as Lily
• Gerard Kearns as Ryan
• Stefan Gumbs as Jess
• Lucy-Jo Hudson as Sam
• Cole and Dylan Williams as Daisy
• Matthew McNulty as Young Eric
• Laura Ainsworth as Young Lily
• Max Beesley as Eric's Father
• Kelly Bowland as Ryan's Girlfriend
• Julie Brown as Nurse
• John Henshaw as Meatballs
• Justin Moorhouse as Spleen
• Des Sharples as Jack
• Greg Cook as Monk
• Mick Ferry as Judge
• Smug Roberts as Smug
• Johnny Travis as Travis
• Steve Marsh as Zac
• Cleveland Campbell as Buzz
• Ryan Pope as Fenner
IMAGE CREDITS:The cover art and production photograph copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, and/or the publisher of the film, all rights reserved.
FAIR USE RATIONALE: Use for review purposes only, low res. reproduction not meant for copying or re-distribution.
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