Raymond and Ray are Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke

Two brothers – Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke – with the same name at the request of their father. grieving over his passing. For both of them, it was a nightmare, almost like an executioner. From death he “relives” his past, several lives – all imbued with seduction – in which he never renounced lies, the right to play and change, even as a father.

The film, which first co-starred Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor, is called Raymond & Ray. Directed by Rodrigo Garcìa, son of the great Colombian writer Gabriel Carcìa Marquez, already awarded at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000 for his first work Le cose che so di lei. Co-producer of the comedy-drama Alfonso Cuaròn, with whom he has collaborated for years, in competition at the Rome Film Fest and from next October 21 exclusively on Apple TV. Everything revolves around a funeral studied by the deceased – Harris III – in the smallest details, full of twists, a good dose of perfidy (two brothers of the same name Raymond) and dark humor supported by crackling writing.

Courtesy Press Office

Two brothers met at the request of the father of the same name. Ewan McGregor is Raymond – and unlike his previous filmography – he’s a precise, calm and predictable man. Twice divorced with a son and a history of violence suffered by his father. Ethan Hawke, simply Ray, is a former jazz trumpeter, full of women (like Dad), with a history of addictions and the great pain of losing his beloved wife.

Who are Raymond and Ray? Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke

Raymond must have his father buried and convinces Ray to accompany him. The dialogues in the part that most resembles a road movie between the two protagonists are masterful – and masterfully performed – as well as throughout the film. Children of the bizarre and detailed testamentary wills. From being buried totally naked to having the grave dug by his children himself (spoiler alert: it’s not just them!), in front of a priest the Reverend West (on the left in the photo below) who guarantees its execution.

Ethan Hawke

It is the director himself who explains the choice to have the graves of all the children dug (from the oldest to those only 7 years old) as a pure elaboration of mourning: “a way of being forgiven once he left the scene and punished them, giving orders even dead people”. The protagonists are irretrievably stuck in the past, as can happen to anyone, but this mourning offers them a chance for the future. May she be the last companion of the father to get revenge for putting the mother of this son to bed who he discovered was not his (still his father, still Harris III). Or the nurse who brings Ray back to play live. So what will become of the two Rays, neither the director, nor Ewan McGregor nor Ethan Hawke tell us. Because after all the end in life, there is only with death and the bell has not been rung for them.