Anemone, 2025.
Written and Directed by Ronan Day-Lewis.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, Safia Oakley-Green, Angus Cooper, and Jack Perrons.
SYNOPSIS:
The film explores the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers, and sons.
Spanning generational trauma while gesturing at larger issues, such as wars throughout history and the Troubles, writer/director Ronan Day-Lewis’ Anemone aims for something profound and grand. In execution, it’s exhausting through several human condition clichés centered on fathers, brothers, and sons and what is passed on to them, for better or worse, at a sluggish pace with some late-game artsy flourishes (one element toward the end feels as if it was inspired by Magnolia‘s frogs falling from the sky), which isn’t helpful when it comes to hiding there isn’t much substance here.
One upside here is that most of these expository monologues reviewing traumatic pain come from Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the greatest actors ever to grace a screen, generously doing his son a favor here. In fairness, for as muddled, uneventful, and predictable (as soon as it becomes clear what the plot is and what the goal is for these characters, one knows what the ending shot is going to be, meaning the only thing left to do is sit through endless confession after confession to reach that point), it is a gift to see Daniel Day-Lewis temporarily come out of retirement and act once again. Even if the monologues themselves are overwritten and contribute to pushing an otherwise simplistic story unnecessarily beyond two hours, it is a treasure to watch him deliver them (especially considering one involves a priest, laxatives, and past trauma: it is outrageous and possibly worth the price of admission alone).
That’s only a portion of the internal pain Ray Stoker is harboring, which caused him to abandon his pregnant partner Nessa (Samantha Morton), isolating himself a ways off in a woodland cottage. While treated to a quietly observational look at his daily routine and lifestyle (which is a blend of efficient resourcefulness and dirtiness), the film cuts back and forth to Ray’s son Brian (Samuel Bottomley, also a dead-ringer for Barry Keoghan, most notably during his few eating scenes), now a young adult, who is called in a cyclical nature of violence despite never actually meeting his father. Brian’s uncle Jem (Sean Bean), who stepped in as Nessa’s lover and became the boy’s guardian, has decided that it’s time to trek into those words and attempt to hash everything out with Ray, because maybe if he finds peace and comes home, that therapeutic process can be transferred over to his son.
The thinking there is both logical and a long shot. There also might be a much more compelling movie about an estranged father and son trying to heal together. However, Anemome (the title comes from a type of flower that Ray grows, as his father once did, despite having a tumultuous and abusive relationship with him) is more about brothers making amends, set to a brooding, jolting score from Bobby Krlic. At least half of this film are shot reverse shots of Jem listening to Ray opening up about something painful, whether it be childhood abuse, horrors during his time on active duty, or bitterness at his brother being the favored child.
And while there is no denying that the performances are terrific (Sean Bean slips into a more passive role, focused on body language and silent displays of solidarity and understanding), it bluntly isn’t very cinematic and mainly relies on character tropes that gradually wear the viewer down through amateurish writing. There isn’t a single second here that Daniel Day-Lewis is phoning it in, constantly keeping his limbs in motion and making small, subtle acting choices in tandem with his simmering intensity. Even the greats of the industry can only do so much heavy lifting for a narrative.
The problem with Anemone isn’t solely the slow moments that drag on (whether it’s running across a beach or a deeper dive than necessary into Ray’s daily existence), which is accompanied by serene and picturesque cinematography by Ben Fordesman, but more that Ronan Day-Lewis overindulges during the compelling scenes. Again, some of them run on for so long that one could tune a character out for an entire minute and still not miss anything. Then there is the reality that the majority of what is intended to be riveting here is merely characters discussing the past, with no narrative drive. One sits there waiting, hoping, and praying for Ray to decide to make peace and go home, so they too can go home. To no surprise, someone could assemble impressive below-the-line talent and quite possibly the greatest living actor alive (by virtue of being their son), but still come up short if the vision is this familiar, sluggish, dissatisfying, and bare-bones.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
