After eight years of retirement, Daniel Day-Lewis finally returns to the big screen for his son Ronan’s feature directorial debut, Anemone. Together, they build a stirring personal drama about unattended wounds that sees Day-Lewis thrive in a solid, sometimes so-so narrative.
Day-Lewis plays Ray Stoker, a haunted veteran who served in The Troubles/Northern Ireland Conflict. After living in an isolated cabin for nearly two decades, Ray is visited by his brother Jem (Sean Bean) to coax him into returning to the family he left behind. Admittedly, Anemone gets off to a rough start as it struggles to find its footing. The perspective constantly shifts between Ray’s daily routine and Jem leaving to reunite with Ray, so there’s no clear narrative direction established for a while. There’s barely any dialogue between characters early on, so there’s not much to cling onto as a viewer. Even with some visual cues that hint at some story elements and thematic connections, there’s nothing deep enough to leave a real impact. For the most part, you’re only hooked by the lush forest scenery and impending suspense of Jem and Ray coming together.
Eventually though, the film picks up as Jem digs deep into the impact of Ray’s absence and Day-Lewis’s raw screen presence draws you into the experience. There’s such a palpable eagerness for that first glimpse of Day-Lewis’s face on-screen that a chill immediately washes over you when he fully appears. It’s very rare to get a titan like Day-Lewis to come out of a seemingly set in stone retirement. So, his presence in Anemone is instantly impactful and completely delivers. His ability to make you feel Ray’s boiling emotions even in the film’s quietest moments is immaculate. Even when Ray and Jem silently explore the forest, you feel the tension between them and the frustrations within Ray through Day-Lewis’s performance. He’s purely captivating from the start, and only gets better as the film lets him speak more.
The script from both Ronan and Daniel Day-Lewis lets the latter shine in ways that embody, essentially, the greatest hits of his career. There’s this vile story Ray tells about an abusive preacher that carries the same vengeful energy as the “I Drink Your Milkshake” speech from There Will Be Blood. Ray has a blue-collar vibe that gives Day-Lewis a great mix of petty comedic banter and spiteful line-delivery. Plus, as the film digs deeper into Ray’s unresolved issues stemming from tragic experiences during The Troubles, you see Day-Lewis unleash emotions that cut deep and create a really raw scene. When Ray is able to truly pour himself out, Day-Lewis holds nothing back through a monologue that acts as the film’s emotional tentpole. It’s a deeply moving scene that lets Day-Lewis do what he does best: deliver compelling and magnetic lines with an immersive pull. Literally, you can imagine someone clipping it for an Oscar nomination because it’s so good and there’s no denying that he’s cemented another potential winner.
Day-Lewis anchors Anemone the entire way and holds things together even when the narrative gets shaky. Overall, the story maintains its emotional core of exploring the lingering pain Ray feels and the ripples it continually causes. The slow build-up of Ray needing to come to terms with his trauma is great and the connection it has to a historical tragedy like The Troubles grounds it incredibly well. Plus, it’s interesting to see Ray act as this haunting force for his son Brian (Samuel Bottomly) and watch him wrestle with the anger passed on by Ray through his absence. Yet, even with plenty of good performances and story beats, Anemone just can’t stand out. Honestly, it presents a lot of story ideas tied to generational trauma and PTSD that we’ve seen dozens of times without treading any new ground. It’s a story that easily gets lost in the sea of indie films that tackle trauma—almost to oversaturated extents—and the film often loses its power when Day-Lewis isn’t the driving force. Bean, Bottomly, and Samantha Morton undeniably put in good performances, but are never given meaty enough material to rise to Day-Lewis’s level. Often, they’re just uttering recycled lines that make the experience even more generic.
Even when the film tries to throw some third-act fantasy elements into the mix, it just muddies things up. Given the grounded nature of Day-Lewis’s performing, it’s pretty weird to include dream-like entities or an almost comically-strong storm. They feel shoved into the final stretch for no reason and, truthfully, add almost nothing meaningful to the plot. Instead, they represent the lack of focus this film can have as it check-ins with Ray’s family or shifts into fantasy jam up the pacing and make the film tougher to grasp than necessary. It’s why Anemone struggles to have sticking power with its themes and, usually, gets in its own way.
At times, the ambition behind Anemone gets the best of it and causes a fairly simple story of trauma to become clogged up with strange fantasy and stock-standard family drama. However, Day-Lewis’s grand return gives Anemone an unshakable power that can’t be missed, and should cause waves into the growing Best Actor race.
