“A life-affirming film whose gritty exterior hides an undercoat of silky humour and an unexpected soft heart, Looking for Eric marries harsh reality with a sprinkling of fantasy in the down to earth way at which Ken Loach excels”  Louise Keller - Urban Cinefile

“It is always satisfying to see an arch-realist testing his certainties, even reaching from time to time, as Loach does here, into the joyfully fantastical.”  Andrew  O’Hagan - This is London

Ken Loach is one of the arch-realists of cinema - a flimmaker with a social conscience - and these qualities are still present in his latest film.  But at the age of 73 he seems to have lightened up - there is much to enjoy in the humour of this film about a man struggling to believe in himself.  And, in a new move for Loach, an element of fantasy is injected into the reality, when working class Eric, is taken in hand by his football hero, Eric Cantona - well not really - he is a figment of his imagination, but, in this case, imagination is transformed into reality and a real friendship is formed.  This is Ken Loach’s most crowd-pleasing film to date.

Nominated for Palme d’Or, Cannes