Filmed
and based around Manchester it follows the life of a problem riddled
postman and his amusing sometimes hilarious but sad and squalid
life. The characters are extremely well played by
actors both known and unknown and the audience whatever your
background should be able to identify with them.
Eric the postman's backdrop is one of a chaotic family life of
divorce, mix raced step-children and enstranged former family life.
His house is a shambles of newspapers, non-delivered mail and half
eaten meals. His garden meanwhile has a cement mixer rather than
flowers. Flashbacks to lost love (an ex-wife who brought him happy
memories) his existance is no bed of roses and he's sinking in a
world of depression, mixed race stepsons he cannot control and drug
related gun crime.
In
his darkest most depressing hours Eric the Postman sinks into a dusty
armchair in his bedroom smoking dope and talking to his heroes from
the past who are immortalised in poster image on his wall. Then one
day Eric Cantona appears in his room to offer philosophical advice
and share the joint and words of wisdom as to resolving his despair
and problems. If you have ever seen Woody Allen's Play it Again
Sam then you can piture the context with Cantona as Bogart and
Evets the Allen Tv dinner type figure. Yes, it is that
far fetched and unrealistic but so much less funny than the Woody
Allen effort and for a director known for his social realism you are
left scratching your head whether Eric actually has Eric Cantona with
him or if his depair has meant a decent into delusion and
hullocination.
Just
as he encouraged seagulls to follow the trawler so Cantona encourages
the postman over sharing a joint to make that journey into the most
perilous territory of all – the past and his complex present.
Alongside a Scottish writing partner Paul Laverty, Loach manages to
add humour to a bleak social mix by strangley dropping the French
former footballer into funny scenarios including playing a trumpet
whilst Eric the postman delivers mail in a tower block to a dramatic
scenario involving this depressed Manchester postman, his
off-the-rails gun-toting stepson, longed-for again ex-wife and
bantering salt-of-the-earth FC United supporting colleagues.
Often
seemingly and later confirmed ad-libbed acting performances aside,
there’s some heavy-handed speechifying about the corporatisation of
football through use of FC United and police violence appears in
working class Manchester during a house raid. This
scene in particular is gruesome, ugly, bleak but glaringly socially
realistic and knocks any notion on the head that this is a comedy
film. The only heart warming episode of the film is
in a heart-warming finale in which the postmen on masse wearing Eric
Cantona masks and FC United shirts come to the fore and solidarity
conquers problems.
Performances
in the film are a mixture of crisp and seemingly-genuine as in any
Loach film – Evets and Henshaw are the main finds. The story though
is rambling and goes off on a number of confusing turns all
culminating in a silly but funny ending that leaves you wondering if
they made it all up as they were going along. Loach uses
Shamless esque type characters and terminology to pad out the realism
of the film. Cantona meanwhile looks ill at
ease at times and the quotes and words of wisdom (I am not a Man...I
am Cantona) wear a very thin by the end. If you support Manchester
United it's all funny and sentimental but if you follow Liverpool and
Manchester City it may have you looking for the sick bucket.
This
is a less obviously political film than some of Loach's more
noticable work. The backdrop of inner city Britain sees echoes of
previous but this film feels less solid in its message transmission.
Surprisingly, also one of the main stars is the main protagonist of
the Post Office marketing drive Henshall who himself plays a postman
in the film. Both Loach and his long-term
writing partner Paul Laverty say little about recent industrial
disputes by postal workers in the film and serve only to show a happy
workplace unified by comradship and comedy like solidarity. A few
swipes at Rupert Murdoch for helping to inflate ticket prices are
made but it all seems so contrived and fake.
After
the screening of this film, a Q and A session with four of the main
movers and shakers of the film took place.
Ken Loach, never one to miss the opportunity to pipe up prententious
political babble stated that in essence this film was an 'anti
Thatcherite' statement. He based this assumption
and theory on Cantona's statement during the film that a 'pass is
more important than goal.' Essentially this
highlights what a contradictory rambling failure the movie is.
For one, Cantona was the king of selfishness; the individual before
the team. Hated and unrespected in France for his forthright and
singular views Cantona was the king of singularity over community and
he, it could be said, represented everything that Thatcher was about
and still does.
Unlike
the movie, which seeks to equate Cantona with the newer revolutionary
FC United, Cantona was essentially a myth that represented the newer
Premiership, the Manchester United of the Theatre of Dreams and its
representation of the new football fan and the adoration of the
figure over the team. It still goes on at the club he made his name
now with the diva like Ronaldo.
Cantona
carved a niche for himself through a series of onfield misdemenours
and off-field quasi philosophical statements that only found its way
onto mass produced t-shirts whilst his contemporaries in France,
Didier Deschamps et al, were lifting the World Cup in Paris. Largely
a failure in international football he was the big man for the small
occasion at club level. Aside from an FA Cup final
captain's performance against Liverpool in 1996 he was good against
mediocre Premiership teams on a cold Tuesday night when the collar
would stand firm and upright but never truly world class when it
mattered in the Champions League. Like George Best
there is a wave of evidence he was the original 'boys own hero'
but like the Ulsterman there is the factual counter theory that his
career was littered with error and failure. Whilst
George Best will be always the fifth Beatle, Cantona will always be
remembered as a Charlatan.
Looking
for Eric opens on 12 June at selected cinemas across the UK.
Review
by Editor©
