‘Raymond & Ray’: Toronto Review

Dir/scr: Rodrigo Garcia. US. 2022. 106mins

A father’s last wish leaves his estranged sons as reluctant mourners in Raymond & Ray. Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia’s healing road trip carries a hefty weight of emotional baggage and back story as it illuminates the way the past continues to shape the present. The predictable route to resolution does offer some surprises along the way, and is anchored by nuanced, rock solid performances from the ever reliable Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor as half-brothers forced to view their father’s life through the eyes of strangers. The kind of modestly charming, character-driven piece that might struggle in a quiet theatrical market, it should find a welcoming audience when it debuts on Apple TV+ in October.

A modestly charming, character-driven piece

Raymond & Ray reunites Garcia with McGregor, who previously starred in his Last Days In The Desert (2015). This film opens on McGregor’s Raymond as he drives to his half-brother Ray (Hawke) to inform him of the death of their father Harris (Tom Bower). It is some five years since the two men last saw each other, and it was their father’s wish that they attend his funeral which is due to take place in Richmond, Virginia, the following day. “Are you really going to go, after the things he did to you?” asks Ray. Their subsequent trip fills us in on all the disappointments of lives scarred by mental and physical abuse.

Raymond & Ray initially has the feel of a theatrical two-hander; a soul-searching long night’s journey into day set in the gloomy confines of Ray’s house. There is a guarded affection between the half-brothers, almost as if they daren’t dig too deeply into the past. The men have settled into well-defined contrasts of temperament and ambition. The uptight Raymond has two divorces behind him and a current relationship on the rocks. He only wants a quiet life. Laidback, cynical womaniser Ray has been clean for seven years. Once a musician, he now survives on odd jobs and construction work. They are both damaged survivors of a domineering dad. 

Once the two men hits the road, however, the film opens out. Cinematographer Igor Jadue-Lillo captures the gentle flow of leafy rural backroads as their sentimental journey unfolds in Virginia. The melancholy mood is enhanced by the bluesy score of Jeff Beal, and production designer David Crank does a great job of defining character through clutter. When they reach their father’s last address, there is a room overflowing with photos, papers and the few remnants of a fading life.

The surprises along the way include a request in their father’s will that they dig his grave and the discovery of an extended family more sprawling than they could ever have imagined. The biggest surprise is discovering how their father was seen by others. They are constantly told of his charm, his friendships, his restless quest for an abiding religious faith. He seems entirely at odds with the man they knew.

Marked by moments of dark humour and revelation, Raymond & Ray is always engaging and boosted considerably by the efforts of an excellent ensemble cast. The women the brothers meet along the way seems to exist to offer emotional support, sex and saintly understanding, but Maribel Verdu’s vibrant, no-nonsense landlady Lucia and Sophie Okenodo’s weary, wary care worker Keira invest their characters with emotion and shading that makes them feel more substantial.

The film rests on the seasoned skills of a well-cast Hawke and McGregor. McGregor’s mild-mannered Raymond is too timid for his own good but there is also a sense there of slow-burning, long-suppressed anger that will find its way to the surface in the most spectacular fashion. A bone-weary Hawke gives the impression of someone who has given up on life. The possibility he might be willing to try again is beautifully conveyed in a nightclub scene where he captures all the emotions of Ray’s efforts to break the chains of that tangled, troubled family past.