June 12th, my first day of being 26 and I was a little bit of a mess really. A year older, but a year wiser? Questionable.
For those who do not already know, I left a good paying job with one of the Big 4 of the accounting world and pursued my dream, a dream that would lead me to Europe, in search of a job. I must say, the bloody credit crunch is proving a real mess, I have been rejected no fewer than 4 times in my job search, it's demoralising but need not worry, I am still positive!
Thus I decided to catch a film. A film staring one of my many football idols, Eric Cantona, an artist, philosopher and a footballing genius. I have the reviews for this movie and it's positive, and knowing Cantona, he would always go for the spectacular, the unexpected, he is after all the last player who felt that he has the responsibility to entertain the crowd and that he owes the crowd a performance.
It was a mid-day screening, thus there were only 5 of us in the 200 seater cinema! It does matter in this part of the world as there are no allocated seating, and with so many empty seats abound, I snuggled myself into the most coveted seat of them all, the central one - well balanced view of all angle of the screen! Ah.... And the journey begins....
I must say, you need to be very attentive while you watch this movie, very very attentive, as many of the scenes which unfolds early on does not conclude itself. For example, the start, it's a little confusing and rather messed up but it will make sense as the movie progress further.
Billy Davies, Sinatra, Castro, Gandhi, Mandela and Cantona?
Being Cantona, expect the unexpected, his talent on the field undoubted and his antics off it, an equal match. There was a scene where everyone in the room has to name a person they admire and want to be, names like Billy Davies, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Frank Sinatra and of course King Eric himself. Not too bad a group to be with, but I would have preferred if someone has said Che Guevara in place of Sinatra, as it would fit perfectly into the rebel/associated with rebel theme. Still no sight of Cantona YET!
The much anticipated appearance of Cantona
How did Cantona make his much awaited appearance? Eric (The postman, not Cantona) starts hallucinating after he took a spliff (which I do not encourage or feel comfortable with), he starts talking to a poster of Cantona on his wall, turns around and Cantona appears!
Let me side track a little from the movie here, I do feel the presence of weed in this film is one of the reason why some critics put his movie down a notch. The movie is rated 15+ here, which I feel is a very generous rating. The spliff smoking is also the very reason why I express concern that the movie might not be shown in Malaysia (Don't worry, I think you can get a copy soon enough from the DVD pirates).
Back to the movie, Cantona's much anticipated appearance didn't disappoint, seconds after his appearance on the screen, he was at his philosophical best again, with an opening quote of "C'est la vie" (That's live) in response to Eric's current problems, he opens up Eric's past, asking him to face his problems instead of running from them. He changed Eric, made him shave and face his ex-wife.
All of that just because he smoked a spliff? Again, I depart from the movie to address substance abuse - even if a spliff could change one from contemplating suicide to facing one's fear, I still would not encourage it!
Cantona - The truth behind Cantona
But it is not all about Eric the Postman, Cantona too, gives a glimpse into his life, he doesn't enjoy being idolised it seems, he is scared, he's scared that one day it might stop. Of course, as we know, he plays to entertain, to surprise the crowd, but first by his own admission, he must surprise himself first. I guess it is true, before you can surprise others, you should first surprise yourself by departing from the norm. One such example from Cantona was a perfectly dinked pass over a static Spurs defence with the outside of his all so reliable right foot, straight into the path of Dennis Irwin (another United legend) and GOAL! Apparently, it was Cantona's favourite moment, neither Liverpool - scoring the winner late in the game, nor the 360-pirouette after scoring against Sunderland. Again, King Eric surprises us all! But surely such surprises could even surprise his own teammates? To which Cantona leaves it to believe and trust. Believe and trust in his teammates, again another philosophical classic, trust in your mates, trust :)
The other Eric - The Postman
The movie moves back to talk about Eric the Postman, how he patches up his relationship with his ex-wife. I would save the details of what happened between him and his ex, just not to spill too much of the film. Touching, that's all I can say, and Cantona played a large part in it. Another memorable quote from The King "When you learnt how to ride a bike or kick a football, you don't forget it", again, very true. Cantona was trying to get Eric the Postman to dance again, once his favourite past time and with a point of his finger, surprise surprise, the music plays and both Eric started dancing! I was stumped, seriously.
Overall performance for 116 minutes
Cantona was at times crude, quite raw with his comments in this movie, with reference to Eric's wife, he said "She has balls". An unlikely metaphor for a women, but nonetheless the message was delivered. There are also some very strong scenes, both motivating ones (E.g. The "No" shouting part) and disturbing ones (Not to be disclosed here). But that's where the realism and the suspense ends. The rest of the movie was quite cheesy, even bordering being ridiculous (Especially Operation Cantona), but again, it's a movie. All in all, it was very entertaining, inspirational at times, dramatic and touching. A great movie, but as Cantona would have said himself could have been better :)
Regards,
Ben Lai
Looking for Eric was released in the UK on the 12th of June after it's premier at the Cannes Film Festival. The last I checked (13th June) there was no mention in the Asian press of the date of release in the said region. Best of luck in getting a copy, from you know who!
