Shifty

Two young men lark about together on a children’s ride in an abandoned playground – until one gets off, leaving his friend to twirl alone, round and round in circles that get him nowhere.

In this economic sequence near the beginning of writer/director Eran Creevy’s debut, Shifty, a primal scene is being re-enacted. Four years earlier, after a drug-related tragedy, an adolescent Chris (Daniel Mays) had high-tailed it from their outer London estate to a white-collar life in Manchester, leaving his best mate Shifty (Riz Ahmed) behind to continue on a downward spiral of dealing and criminality within the community. Now for the first time, Chris has returned, ostensibly to attend a party, but really to help his friend get off the ride and grow up before he spins out of control.

Beleaguered by mounting pressures from his Muslim family, his addicted clientele, the police and a treacherous supplier, Shifty is a charismatic protagonist – we want to see him outrun and outwit his troubles, even if the film never shrinks from showing the people whose lives he has willingly helped to destroy.

And so Creevy’s debut is all at once a complex character study, a coming-of-age drama, a good-humoured buddy pic, a 24-hour slice of social realism and an increasingly tense thriller. Better still, it’s all kept on the boil by a near Aristotelian unity of time and place.

Made for under £100,000 through Film London’s Microwave initiative, Shifty boasts convincing performances, even-handed characterisation, creeping suspense and energy to burn.

Anton Bitel

Anticipation:

Not another drab British drama set on a council estate.

Enjoyment:

Social realism is rarely paced with such vibrant economy.

In Retrospect:

If other debuts had half its energy, the British film industry might be in better shape.