Raymond & Ray is Apple TV’s oddly comforting tale of a malfunctional family

The first thing that gravitated me to Raymond & Ray is this. When you have Ethan Hawke and Ewan Mcgregor playing the two roles of troubled siblings, you know there will be magic in the air, even when all fails.

Happily, this sad funeral reunion film has plenty going for itself. It is purposely sluggish in pace. But rest assured, there is a method behind the languor. Just as you think the narrative is running out of steam it turns another corner lighting up another dark patch of the lives of these desperately sunless people.

It all begins when Raymond (McGregor) drives down to his half-brother Ray (Hawke)’s cottage in the back of the beyond. They need to drive down to Virginia for the funeral of a man who has never been much of a father to either. Come to think of it, he has not been much anything to anybody or anything except his libido.

Turns out, dear dead Daddy has many other children tucked away in different parts of the country. Now they all gather for a funeral which is remarkably austere in vision and shot with takes that seem to go on forever. This is done with a purpose. Writer-director Rodrigo García wants to show how time for all the funeralites (mourners would hardly describe the congregation, as no one is really unhappy to see the weasel go) has come to a standstill.

We can see they will go back to their own lives in no time. But will they ever be normal again? Raymond & Ray stitches together a pastiche of deep pain and really difficult forgiveness. How do you forgive a father who has been so cruel to everyone? Just because he is dead? Is it that simple?

When Raymond talks about his father’s emotional and physical abuse during childhood and adulthood (and that includes sleeping with Raymond’s wife and siring a child with her which Raymond thought to be his) he can barely control his anger and bitterness.

Both Ewan McGregor as Raymond and Ethan Hawke as his half-brother Ray are feast to the more discerning audience. The kind which has the patience to wait for the actors to get to the core of a scene and dig out the vital emotion.

There are two very beautiful women in the plot. One of them Lucia is played by the beautiful Spanish actress Maribel Verdú who brings a understated sexiness to the part of the woman who was the dead father’s last mistress, By the end of the film she is more than friends with Raymond.

There is a tangy touch of irony in that: son steals dead dad’s mistress the way dad had stolen his wife, though not intentional.

The other woman Kiera (Sophie Okonedo) has a haunting face and eyes that speak of centuries of sadness. Kiera and Ray bond over jazz and pain and mutual healing.

At the end, we know these people will heal. Even if the most important person in your life is a manipulative sun of a gun, life goes on. If you promise to be patient with Raymond & Ray it will give you back more in return than you expect.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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