Shifty: Review
DIR/WRI: Eran Creevy • PRO: Ben Pugh, Rory Aitken • DOP: Ed Wild • ED: Kim Gaster • DES: Erik Rehl • CAST: Riz Ahmed, Daniel Mays, Nitin Ganatra, Jason Flemyng, Jay Simpson
Shifty is the debut film from British writer/director Eran Creevy and, while it echoes some themes that have come to characterise the Brit-flick, it has a distinctive personality of its own. Completed on a budget of just £100k, it is an impressive debut with quality not compromised, despite the limited funding available. A product of Film London Microwave, in partnership with the BBC, and based on Creevy’s experiences as a teenager, it is another victory for British cinema.
Set in the fictional London suburb of Dudlowe, it is the tale of a day in the life of local drug-dealer Shifty (Riz Ahmed), freshly reunited with old pal Chris (Daniel Mays), back to visit having decamped to Manchester some four years previously. There is a palpable tension between the pair, seemingly doing their best to skirt around the thorny subject of Chris’ abrupt departure, despite the efforts of Shifty’s brother Rez (Nitin Ganatra). Mays impresses in his depiction of the prodigal son, with a curious blend of tragic inevitability about what he sees around him, and despair at both Shifty’s graduation to hard-drug dealing and his nonchalance about his chosen career.
No story of drug-dealing on London council estates would be complete without a villain and this honour falls to Jason Flemyng as Glen, Shifty’s rival dealer. With elements of the cheeky-chappie, Glen is a likable rogue with an air of menace; Shifty’s fate is lent a sense of foreboding with Glen lurking in the shadows. Special mention goes to Trevor (Jay Simpson), by a distance the most tragic of the characters on show. Hopelessly addicted to cocaine, with a wife and child to support, Trevor is the grim embodiment of an all too real misery.
Shifty’s affluent Moslem background gives a refreshing perspective on a community that has often been the victim of caricature in these ethnically-charged times. Whether Creevy purposely set out to confound public perceptions of the Moslem community is a moot point, however. The limited budget does not hamper the film and it is hard to imagine the production team doing a better job with a larger budget. I can pay it no higher a compliment than that.
Shane Kennedy
(See biog here)
Rated 16 (see IFCO website for details)
Shifty is released on 24th April 2009
Shifty – Official Website
____________________________________________________
Play ‘Shifty’ Trailer
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT75k8sUXaQ[/youtube]
____________________________________________________
Check out the Film Ireland Interview with director Eran Creevy
Related Posts
Category: Reviews
