Raymond & Ray

Greetings again from the darkness. Hey, you know that Dad we hated ... the one that ruined our lives? Well, he died and I need you to come with me to the funeral. Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (ALBERT NOBBS, 2011) starts his film in this manner by having Raymond knock on the door of his half-brother Ray's cabin door in the middle of the night. They haven't seen each other in five years, but their shared bond is an ill will towards the father who stirred such misery during their childhood that neither have made much of their time since.

Raymond (Ewan McGregor) is a persnickety type; a pent-up bundle of anxiety who has gone through a couple of divorces and is currently separated from his third wife. Ray (4-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke) is his opposite - the former addict (7 years sober) puts off the ultra-cool guy vibe with rumpled clothes, tousled hair, and non-stop flirtations. His talent with music was never encouraged by the father and has since been a source of frustration. In other words, these two grown men are messes due to the resentment they've carried for their father and his inexcusably poor parenting.

At first, we assume the two men are going to sit around reminiscing about their horrible memories of dear old dad. Instead, they hop in the car and head out of town to the funeral. It's here where they begin to piece together the last years of their father's life. Bedridden at the end, he had a room in a former (and younger) lover's house. Lucia (an excellent Maribel Verdu, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, 2001) welcomes the men with the surprise disclosure that her young son is their half-brother. At the viewing, they meet dad's nurse Kiera (the always terrific Sophie Okonedo). No, she doesn't have another half-brother for them, but she zeroes in on Ray and his approach to the proceedings.

More surprises await Ray and Raymond, not the least of which is that dad's final wish was for them to dig his grave by hand. At the grave site, they are joined by dad's flamboyant pastor (Vondie Curtis Hall), as well as others with a bond to the man in the pine box. Most of these people are unknown to Ray and Raymond, and they begin to realize the man they've held in contempt went on to live a full life. Veteran actor Tom Bower has limited screen time as the dad, and overall the cast is strong and deserving of a script that could take the topic and these characters much deeper. Hawke is especially good as the brother holding in so many emotions, while McGregor plays off of him quite well. While there is nothing here we haven't seen before, we do wish the cast had more to work with.

The film will have a limited theatrical release on October 14, 2022 prior to screening on AppleTV+ beginning October 21, 2022.

"Raymond" (Ewan McGregor) arrives at the home of his step-brother "Ray" (Ethan Hawke) to declare that their rather brutish father has died. The former feels duty bound to go to the funeral - if only to see the man is dead - and after a bit of prevaricating, manages to convince his brother to attend too. Upon arrival, they discover that they are to inherit his (very) modest fortune, but the condition is that they must dig his grave, put his coffin into it, then cover it up afterwards. Despite generally despising this man, they go along with it and as the time for the interment approaches they discover that their late dad had quite a skill for making sons. The youngest being fathered with the younger "Lucia" (Maribel Verdú) with whom he ended up living at his demise and another set of rather acrobatic twins show up too. When it is just the two men on screen, there is a degree of intimacy and chemistry that works well - we get a sense of not just how nasty their father was, but of just how impactful his behaviour had been on his children - and on their own less than successful marital relationships. When the cast broadens out more though, the story loses that potency and we end up with a rather muddled series of character studies all centring around the behaviour of a man who isn't actually here for us to evaluate ourselves. There are some lovely jazz numbers - "Ray" bring skilful with the trumpet, and the production is stylish but somehow the whole thing is just a bit lacklustre.

Raymond & Ray will give you a clue about the darkness of this two-half-brothers drama when you know that their father gave them both the same name. Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke) are attending their father's showing and burial more as a get-to-know-you road trip than honoring the abusive parent whom they barely knew except through their bleak memories of his neglect and meanness.

Raymond is a mediocre businessman on his third divorce; Ray is a secret jazz trumpet player and recovering addict. Although they are estranged, the trip will open up wounds wide enough to last the rest of their lives. They bond, so to speak, through the friendships of their dad's mourning acquaintances and an exercise worthy of prison life, digging his grave at his last request. The friends reveal dad's womanizing life, and the digging provides plenty of figurative interpretations like dad's influence even after life into the after-life.

The upside of this morose journey is their meeting two splendid women, both revealing somethings about dad pleasant and depressing. Father's buoyant ex-lover, Lucia, played by Maribel Verdu, excites Raymond while dad's ex-nurse, Kiera, wryly played by Sophie Okonedo, provides a dose of tough love. These estimable new friends are the only gifts dad has given the boys. However, the ladies exist mostly to heal the boys rather than give us robust characters emerging fully.

Besides these entertaining women, Vondie Curtis Hall gives us a hip pastor with his own acute observations and amusing side-show antics at the internment. If you're scarily happy at this Halloween time, let Raymond & Ray bring you down a notch or two and see lead actors at the top of their game. Apple TV +

This is a brilliant comedy drama for the whole family...

The characters, men and women, are very well drawn, each one with coherent and identifiable aspects, the result of their past.

Ewan and Hawk are great actors, but the other cast, specially the female parts are not always/really up to their level. But it does not spoil the movie.

There are no good no bad people, just what life offers them, and what they make out of it. Some take opportunities, some take excuses, some blame somebody else.

In the end, when time ends a life, its time for everbody to make his point.

The movie has hilarious situations, which could have been from the Coen Brothers. Each scene has its true originality, no stupid gags, no cheap jokes...

A burial with so many true dialogs, about true and false feelings.

I will surely ask my kids to watch this movie after my funeral, and as a condition to claim the inheritance, lol, and hope they will have so much fun as I did.

I force myself through hundreds of boring movies waiting to meet someday a jewel like this.

One of the best intelligent movies of 2022.

RAYMOND & RAY was actually pretty great, I didn't expect to laugh this much in a movie about grief, Ewan McGregor & Ethan Hawke are so endearing and they really fit as this odd couple of half-brothers. It's a darkly funny look at the process of losing a close one.

They have a down to earth approach that makes this dark comedy relatable, it has a morbid sense of humor at times and they have to dig up a few skeletons in the closet that adds to the family drama. Great actors, good laughs in a pretty grim premise but I ended up enjoying it a lot.

If I can add something I thought the music in the movie was also really good, a jazzy/blues score that also fits in the narrative of the movie with Ethan Hawke's character having a musical background they did a good job incorporating that to the story.

Maybe not for everyone but if you can take some dark humour this could be some good entertainment for you!

7.5/10.