Review by Vinoo
Language : English / French
Director : Ken Loach
‘Looking for Eric’ is the story of how an imaginary Eric Cantona helps his huge fan, Eric Bishop, work his way out of a crisis. Eric Bishop is a middle-aged man working in the franking section of a post office. He has two step-sons who show him no respect whatsoever. His second wife has not contacted him for a while now. Eric is on the verge of committing suicide. During one of his drunken evenings he is high on dope and almost magically his Manchester United celebrity Eric Cantona appears. Eric cantona will serve as an example and will help his fan, Eric, put his life back in order. You get to see some old footage of the genius Eric Cantona playing for Manchester United. I am no great fan of this club but I sure loved Eric cantona and the film. How a Manchester Untited mob sorts all issues and how Eric re-unites with the family forms the rest of the film. Loved watching this one at the IFFK.
Quoting from the film “God once said you can change your wife, change your politics, change your religion. But never, never can you change your favourite football team!” An Arsenal fan sure knows that J. Reminds me of Nick Hornby’s ‘Fever Pitch’.
Some other must watch Ken Loach films include ‘Sweet Sixteen’, ‘The wind that shakes the barley’, ‘Kes’, ‘Tickets’ (along with Abbas Kiarostami and Ermanno Olmi). Yet to watch ‘It’s a free world’. ‘Looking for Eric’ is scripted by Paul Laverty, a Ken Loach regular.
I gather there is film ‘I dream of Zinedine Zidane’ which also deals with one man’s obsession with a footballer, Zidane in this case. Hope to access that one.
And for those in the line to watch MNIK here is the review. “SRK in his best act. He never once loses grip on his character… Definitely, this is a few miles (miles. Please note J) ahead of even Tom Hank’s Forrest Gump”. Wonder what the film critics get fed to plug in just about anything. Even SRK and the Director would be ashamed of such shameless writing.
Useless trivia : Eric Cantona is called ‘King Eric’ and is credited with the revival of the Manchester United FC where he won four Premier League titles in five years. He was also voted ‘MU Player of the Century’ in 2001.
After his retirement from football in 1998 Eric Cantona has tried his hand at acting and has also played a role in ‘Elizabeth’.
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