Looking for Eric is the newest movie by Ken Loach, starring Steve Evets and Eric Cantona.

Plot:
Eric’s (Steve Evets) life is falling apart: He is close to a mental breakdown, he can hardly do his job as a postman, his two teenage stepsons make his life miserable and he is haunted by the memories of his first love he lost through a mistake of his own doing. Then one night, Eric Cantona (Eric Cantona) appears in his bedroom and starts coaching his life.

Looking for Eric is a sweet and very funny movie. It’s wonderfully written (by Paul Laverty) with a very warm sense of humour. The story is not too original but it doesn’t need to be. It’s thoroughly enjoyable.

I had my doubts about Cantona as the spiritual guide to start with. I didn’t think that he would be self-deprecating enough. But he surprised me. He obviously didn’t have a problem with being made fun of.

For example, they took this:

and expanded upon it. He’s constantly sprouting some weird-ass proverb. It is awesome.

Also, there’s a wonderful scene where Eric asks Cantona what he did during the time he was suspended. Cantona tells him that he learned to play the trumpet, produces a trumpet from thin air and starts playing the worst piece of music ever.

But not only Cantona is a reason to watch this movie. Steve Evets gives a wonderful performance and his friends from the post office are uniformly great.

And it was nice to see several things you don’t often get in movies: A single dad who has the usual problems parents have and not some special single dad problems. Somebody who gets psychological problems and it’s a) not the end of the world and b) he has a support system that kicks in. A protagonist who isn’t rich and beautiful and yet it isn’t a plot point.

Summarising: a nice and sweet and funny movie well worth a watch.