Courtesy Apple Original Films
In his 1886 short story, “How Much Land Does a Man Need,” Russian writer Leo Tolstoy posits that all anyone truly requires when it comes down to it is the space in which they’ll be buried. In filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia’s new tale, Raymond & Ray, that concept becomes true enough, though what Tolstoy might have glossed over is those we leave behind and the neuroses to which we might have contributed in life. Perhaps we only need those 6 feet deep, 3 feet wide holes when all is said and done, but to contain our impact is another story altogether.
Out now via Apple TV+, Garcia’s new film, which he also wrote, finds two brothers with the same name, same father—different mothers—coming together after their dad dies. At first, we’re unsure why Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke) seem so blasé about their father’s passing, but with skillful writing revealing more of their backstory throughout the film, we come to understand their positions. Raymond’s wife recently left him, and he struggles to find compassion while contending with the things his dad did while he was alive. Ray is less confused—he hated the man, and not just for his own sake, but for the things that happened to his mother, his brother. Ray’s vocal about that. He’s maybe glad his dad died.
Weird, then, that the dad’s lawyer, pastor and nurse have an endless string of kind things to say, though people perhaps tend to revere the deceased in bizarre ways. Stranger still, then, that dear old dad’s final wish was for his estranged sons to dig his grave. What follows is an ultimately small and contained story built around conversations about life, death, love, parenthood and so on. A lesser writer might have dug up only boredom, but Garcia’s knack for dialogue fosters just the opposite. As previously unknown siblings pop up and the father’s much younger wife hangs around, the Rays find something that looks like empathy—they try to break the cycles begun by their father. Generational trauma is so real, but there comes a time for healing. Maybe we can get addicted to sadness, maybe it’s some amorphous concept on which to pin our failures. But we’ve gotta grow.
McGregor does just fine as the buttoned-down Raymond, a repressed little man whose rage seems ready to boil over. Hawke, however, represents the film’s best as Ray. He was a musician once, and maybe he will be again. He just needs to let go. Maybe the best thing some people can do for the world is to die. That’s dark, sure, but sometimes it’s just the damn truth.
7
+Hawke nails it; strong writing and premise
-Can feel tedious moment-to-moment
Raymond & Ray
Directed by Garcia
With McGregor and Hawke
Apple TV+, R, 105 min.
