Raymond & Ray

**By: Louisa Moore / www.ScreenZealots.com** Estranged half-brothers reunite for a road trip to bury their abusive father in “Raymond & Ray,” the latest film from writer / director Rodrigo García. The story is richly detailed yet uncluttered, and offers a simple but insightful look at broken relationships. Although it suffers from a lack of character development and a disappointing conclusion, this drama has just enough dark humor, original surprises, and two strong lead performances to keep it afloat. Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke) were as close as ever when they were kids. As adults, the men haven’t spoken in years. Raymond has racked up a string of failed marriages while former musician Ray is a recovering addict. They still have one thing in common: a hatred for their old man. Raymond begs his brother to accompany him to the funeral out of a sense of obligation, and Ray reluctantly agrees. Old wounds are reopened (and some, healed) as they come to terms with the past, with regret, and a few unexpected surprises along their journey. It’s a strange story with interesting twists (including their father’s brazen final request), and the situations are so specific that the story feels as if it had to be based on real-life experiences. It’s disappointing that Garcia doesn’t dig deeper into his characters’ histories, as the audience only gets brief mentions of life-changing events and emotional wounds from the past. It becomes clear that neither brother ever really knew their dad, but they come to learn more about him (and each other) in the process. “Raymond & Ray” is a story about grief and moving on, even if it means reinventing yourself.

"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.