Ashes to Ashes is a 1999 action film by British independent filmmaker Wayne Gerard Trotman. The producers, Red Moon Productions Limited claim that Ashes to Ashes is the first British homegrown martial arts movie and a tribute to 1970s cinema. The film is characterized by a complex script, unpredictable twists, dark humour and a subversion of received political correctness. Ashes to Ashes premiered at the Raindance film festival where it was described as "Kung fu with an arty London twist".
Plot
Ashes to Ashes is set in London, England. The film is a surreal journey into the dreams and misadventures of Gabriel Darbeaux, a young screenwriter and martial arts enthusiast who supplements his income by escorting wealthy women. We are introduced to Gabriel's character as he is chased and cornered by a group of Triad thugs armed with swords, sticks and nunchaku. Using his own nunchaku Gabriel manages to fight off the thugs, only to find that the whole episode was an early morning dream. The dream provides inspiration for the opening scene of his latest screenplay entitled "Ashes to Ashes", a thriller involving the Italian Mafia, Chinese Triads and a generous amount of martial arts action. While Gabriel believes that the success of this script will give him financial independence, his best friend Michael has plans of setting up his own escort agency. To fund this project, he resorts to making secret recordings of his sexual encounters with a banker's wife and hopes to earn £100,000 through blackmail. Gabriel receives a call to meet with one of his regular clients at an exclusive restaurant in the West End of London. The woman fails to show and instead Gabriel encounters the beautiful Arabella Simone, who draws him into a world which is disturbingly similar to that featured in his screenplay. Arabella is the former mistress to Valentino Tarantola, a possessive Italian gangster who employs "Laundrymen" Muhammed and Nelson to do his dirty work. When Valentino is apparently castrated and left for dead at Arabella's apartment, she runs to Gabriel for help with the "Laundrymen" close on her tail. Michael is called in to drive the two to a main line station from where they plan to take a train to France. Unfortunately, before the trio get very far, they are captured by the "Laundrymen" and taken to a warehouse where they are introduced to Enrico Tarontola, Valentino's sadistic younger brother. Bound and gagged, they are forced to listen helplessly as Enrico accuses Arabella of castrating and killing his brother Valentino and Michael of blackmailing his financial advisor's wife. All three, including Gabriel are to be put to a violent death. Without warning, henchmen of a rival Triad boss storm the warehouse. In the ensuing battle, Gabriel is forced to fight for his life against Triad enforcers and Mafia hitmen. The film ends with Gabriel waking from a violent dream, blurring the distinction between dream, reality and the fictional account that Gabriel is writing.
Themes
The late 1960s and early 1970s
In an interview, director Wayne Gerard Trotman admitted that Ashes to Ashes was a tribute to the raw style of 1970s blaxploitation, gangster and martial arts movies. There are clear references to popular personalities of the era such as Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali. The film was clearly produced on a low budget and this may have been deliberately emphasised with old fashioned sound effects and extreme close up shots of fighters screaming. The fight scenes are not the slick wire-enhanced set pieces so commonplace in contemporary martial arts films but are down and dirty. There are no flashy techniques just quick, effective street fighting reminiscent of Bruce Lee's The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon. Other examples of references to 60s and 70s films and television include: the character Leo, who sports an afro hairstyle similar to that of Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon and Black Belt Jones a sexual encounter inspired by a scene in Little Big Man where Faye Dunaway is particularly vocal references to The Drunken Master, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock a line inspired by Bonnie and Clyde: "My name is Muhammed Armen, my associate is Mr. Kong, we kill people." the use of percussion and drumrolls in the soundtrack evocative of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury