I am not a man.......I am Cant-on-a!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking for Eric works on so many levels that I dare anyone not to love every feelgood, heart warming and clever minute of it. It is a surprisingly original yet ever so old fashioned study of the mechanisms of coping and centres around a mental breakdown of an inner city middle aged postman Eric,(Steve Evets.)
Battling deep feelings for his first wife , two teenage stepsons who are going off the rails and his own mental health demons, Eric is helped along the way by his motley group of work colleagues and a recurring hallucination of his hero, the former Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona.
It doesn't sound compelling viewing, but under the benign wing of director Ken Loach, the whole film is a celebration of the power of ordinary people to overcome adversity and is incredibly powerful and moving viewing.
As in all of Loach's films good casting is the key to Looking for Eric's success. Evets makes for a moving and unlikely hero, comedy actor John Henshaw is energetically sympathetic as his brusque but loving best friend and Eric Cantona literally oozes power and charisma in a wonderfully tongue in cheek parody of himself.
I could see Cantona stealing a BAFDA for best supporting actor as he totally commands the audience's attention in every scene he is in. When he gives Evets a long stare during one of their "conversations" he states with typical Gallic intensity "I am NOT a man...I am Cant-on-a!!!!"----YOU BLOODY WELL BELIEVE HIM! In short he is totally mesmerising, strangely moving and is sexy as hell to boot. He actually makes the film.
Mind you there is plenty else to enjoy along the way, the northern working class banter is achingly funny, a tentative love affair is genuinely sweet and the sight of 50 postmen coming to the rescue dressed as Eric Cantona is bizarrely exciting. Loach also has time to lament the solidarity and support offered to/ by men on the football terraces and it is nice to see the more positive side of a much maligned sporting pastime
I loved it
9.5 out of 10
Go see it!