Anemone Review

Daniel Day-Lewis Returns in a Frustratingly Thin Family Drama

By: Marc Kozak

Anemone

Daniel Day-Lewis Returns in a Frustratingly Thin Family Drama

By: Marc Kozak

For the first 30 minutes of "Anemone," there are hardly any words spoken and very little information is given. Jem (Sean Bean) says goodbye to his wife and heads out on a journey into some really remote woods, where he finds his estranged brother Ray (Daniel Day-Lewis) living alone in a cabin. The two hardly share a word for the better part of a day, moving about in nature together without a sound. Eventually the two brothers are able to talk, but it's a bit longer still until we learn exactly what Jem has come to say. The movie's over-ponderous opening act will be a patience test for many viewers, even if it is full of spectacular landscape photography and some amusing non-verbal acting from the two leads. Unfortunately, it's a first act that's emblematic of the entire film; heavy on style, light on substance.

When the answers finally come, it's fairly straight forward, hardly worthy of such a mysterious intro. Ray fled to the woods after his traumatic experiences during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, leaving behind Nessa (Samantha Morton) and their newborn son Brian. Nessa ended up raising the child with Jem, but after many, many years, Brian's resentment and lack of identity has built to such a breaking point that Jem must track down his lost brother and try to convince him to stop his isolationism and come back home to help the son that he's never met.

27-year-old Ronan Day-Lewis' debut feature is often formally ambitious, but there's only so much you can zhuzh up a thin screenplay (co-written by Ronan and his father Daniel) full of surface-deep observations about intergenerational trauma, stereotypical masculinity and familial guilt. It's made doubly frustrating by the fact that we have to wait so long for mundane answers to basic questions, leaving little goodwill left in the tank to enthusiastically engage with a series of surreal metaphors that further attempt to dress up a very simple story.

" The movie's over-ponderous first act is emblematic of the entire film; heavy on style, light on substance. "

That being said, the movie is absolutely worth a watch thanks to another utterly captivating performance from Daniel Day-Lewis, returning to the big screen for the first time since "Phantom Thread" in 2017. You could make the argument that the movie is narratively sparse specifically in order to give the great actor plenty of room to stretch his considerable muscles. There are multiple long scenes (one approaching 10 minutes) that are simply Ray telling an uninterrupted story. And these monologues work spectacularly, as Day-Lewis' incredible presence and delivery keep your eyes glued to his face for the duration.

However, these extended acting showcases, as great as they are, are further evidence that the script was severely undercooked. By the time all of the story elements at play are revealed, we have little time to explore any other characters but Ray, who has at this point completely overpowered everyone else. Sean Bean has precious little to do other than to sit next to Day-Lewis and look troubled by whatever is being said. Brian (Samuel Bottomley) is hardly a character at all, almost exclusively shown lying in bed morosely. We are told that he's gotten in a violent fight and has decided to join the military, but we get precious little from his perspective, including his thoughts about a woefully underdeveloped romance (?) with a young woman (Safia Oakley-Green) that shows up once to check on him for about a minute and is never heard from or mentioned again.

Nessa, arguably the movie's most interesting character, is given only slightly more to do, as we get periodic windows into the pain she carries as a result of her many grievances with Ray, a man she used to love. She is clearly still dealing with her past abandonment by Ray and has complicated feelings about reaching back out to him for help after all of these years apart. But her son is in real trouble (or so we're told) and she is desperate for solutions. It would've been nice to see more of events from her perspective, and it's a shame that we don't get a single conversation between her and her current husband Jem, a potentially fascinating dynamic that is ignored completely.

For better or for worse, this is Ray's story. We learn of the terrible war crimes that led to his isolation, we slowly see his guilt over leaving his family emerge, and we get insight into his own childhood trauma that shaped that way he is. This is, of course, the same cycle of trauma and anger that is now affecting his son, leading to more guilt and more pain all around. It's all a bit too obvious, which the movie attempts to combat with supernatural metaphors like a mysterious night creature that seems to stalk Ray, and a biblical hailstorm that doles out devastation to all of those caught in the wake of the family's turmoil. These fantastical elements are sure nice to look at but seem a bit forced, slightly curious but nothing more than an effort to provide depth in a story where little exists.

Still, Ronan Day-Lewis clearly has a keen eye for interesting visuals, aided by the assistance of cinematographer Ben Fordesman ("Saint Maud," "Love Lies Bleeding"). Their wide-angled, otherworldly images do their best to make the story seem larger than it is. If this team can develop a script that matches their visual ambition, we might really have something. As it stands, we can be thankful for another acting credit for Daniel Day-Lewis, who clearly hasn't lost a step. His performance alone is worth the price of admission, even if he can't quite turn weightlessness into gold.