While the idea of a crime thriller set in seedy London isn't an original thought, the way that Creevy approaches everything here is original, intelligent and involving.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 23, 2020

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/5 | Oct 18, 2012

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 28, 2009

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.

Full Review | Apr 28, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 25, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 25, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 25, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/6 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

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.

Full Review | Apr 24, 2009