Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor dig a grave for their abusive father, acrobats perform at the funeral, and the deceased lies face down in the coffin — all this is about the new Apple TV film 'Raymond & Ray' with star actors who have nothing to play

On October 21, the drama Raymond & Ray by Rodrigo García, son of the famous writer Gabriel García Márquez and a regular participant in international film festivals, was released on the streaming service Apple TV.

Two brothers, Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke), are driving to their father's funeral. Both have reached a crisis age, haven't achieved much, and, to be honest, blame their cruel parent for all their troubles.

Upon arrival, the brothers learn the deceased's last wish — to dig his grave themselves. And that's not all. During their separation, Dad didn't waste time: he got married a couple of times, fathered offspring, and spent the rest of his life being polite and friendly with neighbors and friends, as if trying to make amends. Everyone around speaks well of him, and the brothers feel they are talking about a completely different person than the one they knew in childhood.

Thus, Raymond and Ray will literally dig into the past to come face to face with what they have been running from all their lives — the invisible shadow of their father, with whom they never had a conversation while he was alive.

Renowned director Rodrigo García (Four Good Days, Nine Lives) has this time released a rather superficial and simplistic film. Having conceived the film as a tool for processing childhood trauma and reflection (which in itself is nothing new), by the middle of the film he abruptly shifts the vector towards absurdity and outright farce. But he never succeeds in either.

His Raymond and Ray are stereotypical characters carrying a backpack of their father's slaps on their backs. Even their identical names are a paternal mockery, so as not to get confused during another fit of rage. He didn't care who to scold or for what — both were always to blame. Domestic despotism left a deep scar on the brothers' lives, who spent the best years of their lives trying to get rid of their parent's abusive legacy, but never succeeded. "We are children of chaos," Raymond says on the way to the cemetery, summing up the sad outcome of their unfulfilled hopes.

And it would seem that just now, when the viewer is ready to go all the way with Raymond and Ray from hatred to a soul-saving finale, the director suddenly pulls a fast one. The main characters suddenly become superfluous, and García's focus shifts to the secondary characters. Those same ones that the father fathered during his long separation from his sons. The director has assembled here, without exaggeration, a whole panopticon, and the funeral turns from a touching and intimate process into a farce.

The deceased lies face down in the coffin, acrobats from the circus perform somersaults, the priest makes awkward jokes, and Raymond and Ray fill the remaining screen time with convulsive fights, playing the trumpet, and firing a pistol. Where is there room for psychology — just trying to survive.

As a result, neither Hawke (whose career is entering a new phase of development) nor McGregor (who has recently been choosing passable projects) simply have anything to play in the film. The space for reflection is too limited, and there is simply not enough time to adapt to the director's changing mood. It starts off well and ends in requiem — you couldn't put it more accurately. The film fails miserably, evoking no positive emotions or any sympathetic response whatsoever.

And yet, one longed for a heartfelt bedtime story.