Feelgood factor. Magic realism. A real-life sporting sup✅erstar playing himself…

Ken Loach’s latest, Looking For Eric, is worlds✤ apart from his last Cannes competitor, Irish history lesson The Wind Th💦at Shakes The Barley (2006).

That film bagged the coveted Palme d’or – a feat the Bri♋t-direc💖tor is unlikely to repeat with this relatively lighter (in every sense) yarn.

On the other hand, it🌱’s likely to be one of the biggest audience-pullers of Loaཧch’s career.

It’s a tale of two Erics, the main one being a Mancuni🃏an postie played with bags of empathy by Steve Evets.

First seen deliberately driving 🌜the wrong way on a roundabout, Eric Bishop is at an all-time low, haunted by past mistakes and bedevilled by stepsons who leave stolen cement mixers in the front yard.

His closest confidant is a poster of Eric Cantona in h🦹is Man U prime. During one spliff-assisted heart-to-paper chat, King Eric suddenly appears in the flesh, dispensing life advice, off-the-wall (ahem) proverbs and a few danc🐈e moves.

A quirky, cuddly buddy-com? Not entirely. There’s a more typically Loachian subplot (involving a dodgy handgun) where it seems an♔y choice the pro🌼tagonists make will lead to ruin (a la My Name Is Joe).

For a stretch, it’s as serious as hell; but then the mood-o-meter swings back to comedy for an inventive but not overly credible r🌺esolution.

Fans may expect something a little less pat and ingratౠiating from Loach – but on its own terms LFE is a tender-hearted, earthy-humoured ode to leaning on your mates when the chips are down.

There were frequent cheers and claps from the Cannes crowd – who saved their loudest applause for a classic Cantona moment over the end credits.