Raymond & Ray

IN A NUTSHELL: Two brothers share a name and a road trip to their estranged father's funeral. Reunited to carry out their father's last wishes to dig his grave, they dig deep into their past traumas and uncover the history of the man they both hate. Resentments, secrets, and memories flood in, presenting the brothers with a chance to reconcile their past and find forgiveness and a way forward. All the while, the question arises if one ever really knows their parents-and must your upbringing define who you are as an adult?

The film was written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia. It was nominated for "Best Film" at the Rome Film Fest this year.

THINGS I LIKED: I've always been a fan of Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke. They have great chemistry together and are true pros, giving outstanding performances filled with nuances. Ethan Hawke's daughter is now in the movie business. Check out her recent performance in Do Revenge. She looks just like her dad and her mom, Uma Thurman.

The supporting cast members also do a great job.

The story forces us to take an honest look at our own lives, our family relationships, and the legacy we'll leave.

The quirky humor is often very amusing in a subtle way.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: There are moments that feel extremely forced.

Some of the characters make odd choices.

The dialogue missed a few crucial moments, in my opinion.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will be extremely bored.

Profanity, including F-bombs There's a lot of talk of a man who was a womanizer.

A man flips the bird We see a photo of a nude woman from the back with a side shot Talk of drugs We see the backside of a man

THEMES: Dysfunctional families Brotherhood Grief Forgiveness The power of music Death Legacy Infidelity Marriage

This is a slow moving meditation on grief, family dysfunction and letting go of the past. Both Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke give heartfelt and believable performances as two estranged brothers. You have to be in the mood to watch this slice-of-life film as it does plod along. We saw the movie trailer and knew this was one of those offbeat films that probably won't attract a lot of viewers. The supporting cast is decent. Sometimes a storyline is interesting enough that you are willing to immerse yourself in that world for 2 hours. At its best, you can learn from whatever life challenges the characters are experiencing. Then when the credits roll, you are glad you put in the time to explore that world.

So I've binged just about everything series wise. I'm into thriller mystery, so I decided on this movie for my lazy Sunday afternoon for some change. Admittedly, it's not as much of a comedy as I thought it would be. I'd describe it more as "lighthearted " and has a couple funny moments. Overall, it's a pleasant movie that definitely starts off slow. There's nothing in it that stands out except great acting. It's entertaining "enough". Didn't turn it off. So I guess I'd suggest to give it a try for a good 30 minutes and decide for yourself. If you are looking for a laugh out loud comedy gem, then don't even try. Find something else.

"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.

This is a brilliant comedy drama for the whole family...

The characters, men and women, are very well drawn, each one with coherent and identifiable aspects, the result of their past.

Ewan and Hawk are great actors, but the other cast, specially the female parts are not always/really up to their level. But it does not spoil the movie.

There are no good no bad people, just what life offers them, and what they make out of it. Some take opportunities, some take excuses, some blame somebody else.

In the end, when time ends a life, its time for everbody to make his point.

The movie has hilarious situations, which could have been from the Coen Brothers. Each scene has its true originality, no stupid gags, no cheap jokes...

A burial with so many true dialogs, about true and false feelings.

I will surely ask my kids to watch this movie after my funeral, and as a condition to claim the inheritance, lol, and hope they will have so much fun as I did.

I force myself through hundreds of boring movies waiting to meet someday a jewel like this.

One of the best intelligent movies of 2022.