Looking for Eric (2009)
Looking for Eric(BRIT) Directed by Ken Loach Written by Paul Laverty Starring Steve Evets; Eric Cantona; Gerard Kearns; Stephanie Bishop; John Henshaw; Greg Cook; Smug Roberts; Stefan Gumbs; Lucy-Jo Hudson
Seventy three year old Ken Loach is one of modern cinema’s masters of social realist drama, the majority of his oeuvre consisting of stories about citizen workers on the lower rung of the economic ladder. Though Loach has a fondness for casting British comedians in supporting roles, and interlacing moments of humor into the mix, essentially his plots are of a more serious nature, and he is not shy about allowing his staunchly held political convictions to play out in his narratives. The director has therefore come under some degree of criticism over the years for his steadfast commitment to socialist ideals, which can, at times, manifest as verging on the didactic.
The past decade though has shown a more versatile Loach than at any time in his career, and his output has included a romantic comedy of sorts (Ae Fond Kiss) and an historical drama (The Wind That Shakes the Barley). Long forced to fight to get his films made, he has struggled through several dry periods, but has benefited from major festival awards and positive critical response, and during this, the latter part of his career, has been quite prolific - Looking for Eric being his fourteenth feature in the last twenty years.
Teaming with regular collaborators screenwriter Paul Laverty, producer Rebecca O’Brien, and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, this time out Loach gives us a comedy, and for good measure he even includes some surrealistic touches, clearly breaking from his long established comfort zone. The story focuses on depressed middle-aged postman Eric, who lives with his two stepsons Ryan (Gerard Kearns) and Jess (Stefan Gumbs), the children of his unseen second wife, who left them seven years previous. Eric is a nice guy, who enjoys a pint at the pub with his work mates, but he’s also a pathologically passive sort who gets walked on by his two rather unruly wards.
Early on we learn that the famed Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona is Eric’s hero. The Frenchman (played by Cantona himself) even begins appearing to him as kind of advice giving sage (think of Bogie in Woody Allen’s Play it Again Samor Elvis in Tarantino’s True Romance ). The forty four year old Cantona is actually a legitmate actor, having appeared in a number of French films since his retirement from soccer in 1997. He does a solid job, though the accent is thick and subtitles might have been appropriate.
As the story unfolds, we learn about Eric’s past, which includes the fact that he abandoned his first wife and love of his life, Lily (Stephanie Bishop) and daughter Sam (Lucy-jo Hudson). He maintains a relationship with the adult Sam, however, and his assisting her efforts to balance school exams and a new daughter, Daisy, leads him to a meeting with Lily, whom he hasn’t seen in many years. The regrets and sadness Eric has lived with coalesce when he is forced to confront his past actions. Loach uses flashback to good effect, recalling beautifully photographed glimpses of the young couple’s time together.
A subplot having to do with Ryan’s trouble with a local hard case is less effective. Though it infuses the story with tension and danger it also takes valuable time away from the relationships that are the heart and soul of the film. It’s as if Laverty/Loach are afraid to explore the deeper emotional ramifications of complicated human interaction, and resort to a conclusion that, while amusing, falls a little flat.
Per usual, Loach elicits naturalistic performances from a mix of experienced and non-experienced actors. Evets and Bishop are particularly good as older people who have endured all that life has thrown at them.