Ashes (Mat Whitecross, 2012)

Probably the best aspect of this low-budget affair is that for a large bulk of the time it runs as a serious drama centering on a man breaking his father out of a psychiatric hospital where he has ended up with Alzheimer's. The son then tries to get the father across the country to his home while he keeps wandering off and otherwise making a nuisance of himself. As you might expect, Ray Winstone does a sterling job as the cantankerous and incoherent patient. But we also know what you get when a director decides to cast him: by hook or by crook, a thriller will yet somehow rear its head out of the murk. And so it does, as the horrible reason behind his final breakdown is revealed through flashbacks. A shame then, to be back in the world of the gangster geezer again, when for a while the film led you to expect something different, but at least it tried.

5/10