Mark Reviews Movies: RAYMOND & RAY

Raymond & Ray, Apple Studios

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 20, 2022

Their father is dead. That doesn't come as much of a surprise to Raymond (Ewan McGregor) or Ray (Ethan Hawke), a pair of half-brothers who grew up together and have grown apart since leaving their childhood home. The only surprise for Ray is that the old man died of cancer and not, as he assumed would happen and admits to fantasizing about when he was younger, by his own hand.

Their father was miserable—abused by his own father and implementing that learned behavior in raising his own sons. Neither of these men has gotten over that, so Raymond & Ray, obviously, is about them trying to cram in decades' worth of realizations and breakthroughs over the course of a day.

Writer/director Rodrigo García's movie isn't particularly convincing, then, as a character piece, an examination of the effects of abuse, or an exploration of the sometimes complicated bond between fathers and sons. That's where this screenplay inevitably heads, as the two brothers confront the past they don't really speak about and the life their father apparently led apart from them. The event that prompts all of this reckoning, of course, is the father's funeral, which the old man made Raymond and Ray's shared responsibility. It's like a final cruel joke he's playing on them.

As a dark comedy, the first act and a bit more of García's movie is fairly effective. There's quite a bit going on here, as Raymond enlists Ray to fulfill their father's final wishes. While there's no rational or emotional reason for either man to want to do something like that, they do anyway, out of some twisted belief in tradition or respect for the dead or a child's obligation to one's parent.

None of it makes sense in regards to this man. He had no apparent respect for any kind of tradition, changing religions as one might change their style of dress every decade or so. The fact of the old man's death hasn't changed a bit of the man and father he was to his sons, so in that respect, what obligation does either of them owe to the corpse of a man they so hate? It's absurd for Raymond to want to meet his father's final wishes, and while it's reasonable for Ray to go along with them in order to help his brother, it's also a bit absurd that Ray simply doesn't try to push Raymond away from the idea.

These aren't criticisms. They're explanations for why this movie begins with such a strong sense of humor, as the dead father's dying wishes become increasingly troublesome and a bigger nuisance for Raymond and Ray. The two men keep agreeing to about going about with those plans, though—definitely not because they want to, but simply because they feel obligated to do so.

As such there isn't much to these two characters, save for some general background information about former marriages (Raymond is thrice divorced/separated, with the reason for one of those break-ups held for a surprise later, and Ray is a widower) and a broad clash of personalities. Raymond has some hope that going through the funeral ritual and process will bring about some closure to the unfinished business and psychological baggage of being his father's son. Ray possesses no illusions about such sentimental simplicity, but Raymond has been there for him in the past, even though Ray has kept a distance.

A running joke here, as the brothers drive from Ray's remote cottage to the site of the proceedings a few hours away, is that everyone the two contact or encounter in going through this process has a completely different impression of their father than they do. Lucia (Maribel Verdú), the father's former lover, remained friend with him until the end, even giving him a room in her home. The funeral home director (played by Todd Louiso) found him to be "charismatic" when he came to make arrangements—leaving a chunk of the bill to be paid by the sons.

His attorney (played by Oscar Nuñez) thought he was "charming" when the father was putting together his will—making a point, by the way, that the two sons have to dig their father's grave. The father's much-spoken-of pastor (played by Vondie Curtis-Hall) saw him as a "seeker" and "an old soul," and Kiera (Sophie Okonedo), a nurse at the hospital where the father spent his final days, was so struck by him that she actually comes to the visitation and, at a smitten Ray's request, the burial.

Raymond and Ray, of course, know nothing about this side of their father and, obviously, doubt its truthfulness. As the complications and surprises—including some additional siblings—keep piling up for them on the day of the funeral, García maintains this warped sense of the entire thing being akin to a mean prank from beyond the grave.

At a certain point, though, the movie shifts its tone, trying to reconcile the father as someone more complex and treating the sons' conflicted feelings, search for some meaning and healing, and own issues with a bit more seriousness. That doesn't work in Raymond & Ray, if only because it's difficult to take a good joke seriously.

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