Critic Reviews

• Wally Hammond, Time Out

  Creevy's fine ear for dialogue, sensitive and productive direction of actors and confident control of tone is all the more impressive for being delivered under the short schedule and tight budgetary exigencies.

• Tony Macklin, tonymacklin.net

  Shifty is low-key, low budget, but high grade. It's a film about sitting and talking. And drug dealing. It builds slowly - some may want more action, but it has a surprisingly satisfying conclusion.

• Cosmo Landesman, Sunday Times (UK)

  The dialogue is a nice mix of Pinteresque menace, drug lingo, laddism and cracking one-liners.

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  The film has a sense of authenticity and there's no sentimental suggestion that Shifty's way of life is the inevitable result of his background.

• Neil Smith, Heat Magazine

  Moving, gripping and funny, this is a homegrown gem you can't help taking to your heart.

• Tim Evans, Sky Movies

  For a debut feature, Eran Creevy's semi-autobiographical drama shows a remarkably light touch, set in an anonymous London suburbia far removed from stereotypical East End of the wideboy film tradition.

• Ellen E Jones, Total Film

  Mercifully free of Danny Dyer cameos or Guy Ritchie mockneyisms, this works as both an entertaining gangster thriller and a hard-hitting piece of social realism. Absorbing, moving and authentic, Shifty never once strikes a false note.

• Ali Catterall, Film4

  Creevy eschews the woozy, arthouse ambience of Duane Hopkins' Better Things - another portrait of a drug-decimated community - for naturalistic dialogue and performances within carefully framed and composed shots; properly cinematic, grown-up direction.

• Dan Jolin, Empire Magazine

  Good central performances in this highly, entertaining character-driven debut.

• Wendy Ide, Times [UK]

  The production values are lo-fi but spirited performances, matey humour and an edgy authenticity carry the story.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  First-time director Eran Creevy kicks things up a notch with this shrewd and engaging drama, achieved on the smallest of budgets.

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  Written and directed by first-timer Eran Creevy, this quiet piece is mostly convincing in its mundane details, and doesn't feel the need to ramp up its plot too precipitately into guns and threats and spiralling vendetta.

• Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

  Shifty boasts convincing performances, even-handed characterisation, creeping suspense and energy to burn.

• Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail [UK]

  As art, Shifty is unoriginal and tedious. I find it difficult to imagine who would pay to see this for entertainment.

• David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]

  It doesn't hit home quite like it should, but director Eran Creevy deserves credit for delivering something better than the usual Brit gruel.

• , Sun Online

  First-time writer and director Eran Creevy delivers a film full of uneasy silences, punctuated by laddish banter and just enough action to keep you gripped.

• Karl French, Financial Times

  It is all done with conviction, is well acted, particularly by the two leads, and is a brisk, promising debut for Creevy.

• Anthony Quinn, Independent

  Drug crime on the outskirts of London sounds neither promising nor original, but Eran Creevy's debut feature is more character study than the usual Britcrim parade of guns and geezers.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  The story may not be entirely unfamiliar but writer/director Eran Creevy transforms autobiographical material into an engaging, energetic little drama that is full of promise.

Read all 19 critic reviews