'Raymond and Ray' Review: A Heartfelt and Often Funny Two-Handed Drama [TIFF 2022]
equal parts DRAMATIC AND MORBIDLY HILARIOUS, RODRIGO GARCIA’S FILM THRIVES ON THE BRILLIANT CHEMISTRY AND PERFORMANCES OF ITS TWO LEADS.
In a way, writer-director Rodrigo Garcia’s latest film Raymond and Ray is a throwback to the sorts of movies that were quite common in the New Hollywood movement of the 70s in that it is focused more on characters than on story. Thanks to the terrific lead performances from Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor, a solid supporting cast and a sharp screenplay, Garcia is able to inject humanity into this picture making it relatable to viewers. Apple Studios certainly hopes that Raymond and Ray will find an audience when it hits select theaters and Apple TV+ this October.
The film has a very simple premise. It follows two half brothers who could not be more different from each other but find common ground as both are going through their own problems in life. Raymond (McGregor) is a modest man that has already gone through two divorces and is currently separated from his current lover. Ray (Hawke), on the other hand, is more reckless and cynical of the world around having failed as a trumpet player due to his struggles with heroin. Now sober, he was recently laid off from his job at the power plant for punching a racist co worker. These flaws are made immediate to the audience at the first scene when Raymond comes to Ray’s cabin telling him that their father Harris (Tom Bower) has died. Having despised the man for his abuse, Ray refuses to go to the funeral even though Raymond, hating Harris as well, insists they follow his will of burying their father.
When the two characters hit the road, Garcia gets to the film’s strength which is the relationship between these two men. Despite their different lifestyles, they both share the same hate for the man that physically and emotionally abused them as boys. They also have a genuine respect for one another, but as is typical with real life siblings, they love to take jabs at each other. Yet this is not your typical buddy drama. This is made clear once they hit the funeral home and expect to be the only ones there, given the type of person their father was. Instead, they encounter numerous people Harris knew in the later years of his life, and are constantly surprised by who they meet and the stories they tell. Some of Harris’ acquaintances include Lucia (Maribel Verdu), a spirited younger woman Harris had a fling with, and Keira (the wonderful Sophie Okonedo), Harris’ tired nurse who forms a bond with Ray.
What makes the film work is how simple and unpretentious it is presenting its characters and themes. Garcia’s direction is nothing artsy but it is still very impressive in terms of the realness he presents and his focus on character. Shooting the film in Virginia, he very much makes good use of the state to give the movie a naturalistic feel. The script, however, is where the film truly shines mixing the serious plot with some really sharp writing and dialogue that gives the brothers some really funny barbs to trade against each other.
It also helps when you have two of the finest actors working today to speak this dialogue. Ewan McGregor is really solid as the timid Raymond. This is a character who has been relatively successful in his life and yet his relationship issues have made him a mess inside. All throughout the film, Raymond simply wants to honor his father’s wishes and bury him but as the film progresses, you can tell there’s a hidden fury inside him about how Harris treated him and Ray that eventually builds up and when it leads to that moment, McGregor gets to showcase a side of acting he rarely gets to show.
As Ray, Ethan Hawke adds yet another likeable but flawed character to his career. That career and Hawke’s skillset as an actor that only seems to be getting stronger as he gets older. When Ray is introduced, the audience gets a sense that this is a man who has given up on life due to his rough childhood, drug addiction and failure to hold jobs but Hawke brings his usual likability to what could have been a mean spirited character and make him seem sensitive to the audience. Hawke knows how to sink his teeth into characters that are conflicted and Ray is a perfect example of that as he clearly had a more trouble relationship with Harris compared to Raymond but Garcia keeps it shrouded in mystery as to why that is and Hawke always delivers.
The supporting cast is decent if somewhat underused. Maribel Verdu brings livelihood to Lucia making her a warm hearted woman that truly loved Harris but also is welcoming of Ray and especially Raymond and understandable of their resentment. Verdu provides a lot of the comedic one liners in the film. Sophie Okonedo does a fantastic job portraying Keira as a tough but kind hearted woman who may harbor feelings for Ray. Her chemistry with Hawke is solid and you truly believe that these two could end up together. Yet that is also a problem with the film as Garcia does not really give time for the relationships with the supporting characters flow and where it ends up may be disappointing to some viewers who seek closure.
Raymond and Ray is a simple but solid drama that is really held together by the two leads and its sharp dialogue. The withdrawal of answers to certain questions about the characters may not please everyone but those who want to see great dramatic work with terrific performances and great humor thrown in there will find much to like