The British love for soccer — which they insist on calling football — is part of the lifeblood that courses through “Looking for Eric,” a whimsical film from the usually gritty filmmaker Ken Loach.
Loach has been making his clear-eyed, socially minded films for years now, and usually they investigate the working class of England (“Riff-Raff”) or a past political cause (“The Wind That Shakes the Barley”). This new one is something of a holiday by comparison.
The film’s main character is Eric Bishop (Steve Evets), a 50-year-old disappointment to himself and to others. A postal worker who abandoned a wife and child many years earlier, Eric now lives with two vaguely threatening teenage stepsons.
Resigned to their hooliganism and hopeless about his own future, Eric takes solace in sports. At least there’s always soccer, and discussions of the glories of past players and matches.
No player is more storied in Eric’s estimation than the great Eric Cantona, a superbly talented footballer of yore. Just when Eric needs him most, Cantona — playing himself — appears in Eric’s room and provides sage counsel.
Shades of “Play It Again, Sam,” where schnooky Woody Allen was advised by the ghost of Humphrey Bogart. “Looking for Eric” isn’t exactly a comedy, but it isn’t kitchen-sink misery, either; in fact, although this is an enjoyable, well-observed movie, it’s a little hard to pin down.
Paul Laverty’s script is constructed around an old-fashioned story of a man in crisis finding himself again. It’s the detail and realism of Loach’s approach that makes it come to life.
The tone is peculiar: serious at times, verging on slapstick toward the end. When Eric’s extremely male buddies form a men’s group, sharing their feelings and hopes, you’re not sure whether to laugh or empathize — but probably a little of both.
The palindromic actor Steve Evets, a longtime veteran of British TV but a probable new face to most of us, is completely convincing as the worn-out hero, a wizened man who looks truly beaten down from the opening frames.
Eric Cantona, a sort of mystical figure in soccer, is a wonderfully droll presence in the movie (he’s also one of the film’s producers). The pull of sports — the way it replaces or imitates other forms of communication for men in society — is an unspoken theme in the movie.
Despite the aid of the imaginary Cantona, you might wonder whether Eric and his friends wouldn’t be better off without their sporting passion. There are fans and fanatics, and it’s a fine line that separates the two.
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