Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-10-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 112 minutes

DVD Description
Eric the postman is slipping through his own fingers...

His chaotic family, his wild stepsons, and the cement mixer in the front garden don't help, but it is Eric's own secret that drives him to the brink. Can he face Lily, the woman he once loved? Despite outrageous efforts and misplaced goodwill from his football fan mates, Eric continues to sink.

In desperate times it takes a spliff and a special friend to challenge Eric to journey into the most perilous territory of all - the past.

As a certain frenchman says, "He who is afraid to throw the dice, will never throw a six."

Synopsis
A man trying to put his life back on track gets some advice from an unexpected benefactor in this comedy-drama from acclaimed British director Ken Loach. Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is a postman living in Manchester whose life has been slowly going off the rails ever since his wife Lily (Stephanie Bishop) walked out on him. Eric has just been released from the hospital after an auto accident, and comes home to a house that's a mess and two teenage sons, Ryan (Gerard Kearns) and Jess (Stefan Gumbs), who regard their dad as an annoyance rather than an authority figure. Eric's oldest child, a grown daughter named Sam (Lucy-Jo Hudson), loves him but can't get her mother or brothers to show him any respect. And his friends from work don't know what to do for him, except allow him to talk about football and his favourite team, Manchester United. One night, Eric is home alone, smoking some weed, and to his amazement he's visited by an apparition of Eric Cantona, the French footballer who was a star for Manchester United in the 1990s until he retired and dropped out of sight. Cantona's ghost has come to give Eric a pep talk and offer him some advice on how to win Lily back, and as Eric tries to convince his wife to give him another chance, Cantona periodically appears to coach him in the ways of romance. LOOKING FOR ERIC was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

From the Back Cover
Language: English
Subtiutles: English for hearing impaired

Customer Reviews

The pass
Looking for Eric is probably Manchester's darkest cultural product since Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures', although it is balanced by a raucous sense of humour. This film is, in places, crying tears of laughter down your shirt kind of funny, and in other places, heavy as an anvil.

Eric is a postman. Clinically depressed and fixated on the breakup of his last but one marriage, he is involved in a minor road traffic accident, his teenage stepsons don't show him much respect. It's bleak. His colleagues try and make him laugh to cheer him up, but (quoting Joy Division) he's "waiting for a guide to come and take him by the hand".

Eric sneaks into his son's room and borrows his tin of smoking materials. He goes into the living room and lights up a joint. He talks to his Cantona poster. Then the real Cantona appears in the room and talks to him. Will Cantona's Gallic aphorisms provide the guidance Eric needs to get back on track, beset as he is by low self-esteem, depression and out-of-control teenagers making his life a misery?

Cast - perfect. Steve Evets (Eric) turns in an Oscar-worthy performance, you forget that this is an actor and not a postman. Stephanie Bishop (Lily, the ex- ex- wife) again, brilliant. Eric Cantona (lui-même) - excellent, subtle stuff here: he just appears and talks in French then translates it for the other Eric, sometimes with (probably deliberately) incomprehensible results - humour and gravitas in one. Nul points for the trumpet though.

Visuals - the visual language of the film is exemplary. For once, this is a Loach film that doesn't have a documentary vibe. It's unashamedly cinematic, albeit in a magnetically watchable arthouse kind of a way. It's also one of few recent British made films that doesn't have an off-putting Britfilm look about it.

Script - for my money this is screenwriter Paul Laverty's best effort since Bread And Roses [DVD] [2000] The dialogue is natural, the story is improbable (in a good way), the pace (slowish) works fine and there isn't a dull moment over the entire 116 minutes of the film.

Not much more to say, really. Probably Loach's best film since Kes [DVD] [1969] Just stunning.

Never quite found Eric...
Much of my disappointment from this film, aside from the final product, came though the poor advertising and marketing. As an avid Eric Cantona fan (like the rest of my family, all adults), this was bought as a Christmas present after seeing the show of trailers and posters that present this movie as being a happy, funny and genuinely original film that was co-produced by Eric himself, and of course features himself. We were sadly not pleased by the end after looking forward to it so much.

The film, in short, is about a Postman (Confusingly named Eric) who is losing his grasp on life after his family is falling apart, but more importantly he fails to let go of a fiancee from his younger days - despite breaking up years earlier. Set in Manchester, the film is centred predominantly around the working class life of Eric and his work colleagues whom are also Postman, and the struggle to gain control of his household after a car-accident. However, Eric soon discovers that one of his sons has gotten themselves into trouble, and that they are protecting a gun in the house to save the skin of a gang leader.

Glancing at the DVD cover now, its hard to contemplate where the jolly image of Cantona and 'Eric' come into the film. This is probably because the film has about 2% humour value - not that this is a bad thing for a film - but what is poor is that the image is deceiving. Cantona arrives into the film as a make-shift "guardian", playing himself. But only the character 'Eric' can see him, as he has arrived to try and help Eric sort out his life through a series of short, mumbling sequences in which Cantona hopes to motivate the man who idolises him. Cantona himself only plays a very small role in this film (in terms of acting), which makes the marketing even poorer. The trumpet on the cover? He plays about 20 seconds worth just because he learnt to play it whilst serving 'that' ban during his career...

The use of foul language was completely out of order and for the most part, unnecessary. Of course we call swear, but there is absolutely no need to repeat the 'F' word constantly, and for me it took away much of the enjoyment - somehow just about making a "15" rating. Cantona's dialogue was very hoarse and hard to understand because, for most sequences he was in, the speech was very low. Coupled with his fast talking and French accent, I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying sadly. Had the soundtrack of been mixed down better (vocals/treble moved up), then there would be know need to keep your hand on the Volume control.

Its always hard to write a negative review when so many people have provided positive stories, but I just felt compelled to after all this time. The film itself is quite adequate and reminiscent of much of what Danny Boyle would normally produce - its fairly well acted, its authentic, and well produced. But the problem is that I don't feel motivated to watch it again, and I fear others may fall for the same trap. Others may disagree now that there is plenty of feedback about the film, but even so the final product (which, by the end, glorifies gang violence) is barely uplifting despite the attempt of a happy ending.

suprised!
I went to see this film knowing only the barest details of what it was about. ie a depressed postman and an appearence by eric cantona.
i have started to watch a lot more British movies , this was started by This is england . These films have more depth to their characters,rely less on special effects and glamorous superstar actors than their Hollywood counterparts.They are set in places we all know and characters everybody will have met at some point in their lifes. The sorylines are about real people and real places.
I was suprised at how much I enjoyed Looking for Eric ,it was at times extremely funny, extremely depressing. one minute you are laughing out loud, the next wanting to cry.
There is a lot of swearing in the film however the quality of the acting and the storyline ensures that you soon become oblivous to this.
Of all the films I have seen this year the best so far have been The Damned United,Awaydays and now looking for eric!