Directed by Ken Loach
Screenplay by Paul Laverty
UK/France/Italy/Belgium/Spain
116 min.
2010
Not Rated
It's Nick Hornby meets Martin Scorsese as Eric Bishop (Steve Evets), a middle-aged postman working for the Manchester UK sorting office, finds his life going out of sorts. His second "life companion" was recently released from prison, but appears to have, shall we say, got "lost in the mail," and has vanished without a trace. Eric is left alone with two stepsons who have no respect for him. Ryan, the older boy, has become fascinated by Zac, a dangerous local gangster, and has agreed to hide Zac's gun in Eric's house. Meanwhile, Eric is asked by his proper daughter Sam, who has a newborn baby of her own, to get back in touch with Lily, his ex-wife (Stephanie Bishop).
As a result, Eric does the first thing that occurs to him: he panics, and asks advice of the poster of his idol, another Eric, French footballer Eric Cantona (played by himself). And before you can say "Wait a minute, Mr. Postman," the latter Eric appears, and the footballer-philosopher helps remorse-ridden Eric Bishop to try to become a "first-class male."
"[T]he film's riotous climax deftly turns grim social realism into action-slapstick revenge farce. Not something Mr. Loach has tried before, and something he turns out to do rather well." --A.O. Scott, New York Times
