In Northern England, a man heads out on a journey into the woods to reconnect with the estranged hermit brother with whom he shared a complicated past that was altered by life-changing events decades ago.

Daniel Day-Lewis’s return to the screen for the first time in 8 years is a collaboration with his son Ronan, who directs his debut feature called ‘Anemone’ – talk about a boost to your debut project! After ‘Phantom Thread’ in 2017, Day-Lewis announced that he was retiring after a career that had delivered 3 ‘Best Actor’ Oscars on top of countless memorable roles, so his return is a welcome surprise and it is equally no surprise that he is the best thing about the flawed ‘Anemone’.

The premise of the movie centres on the attempts of Jem Stoker (Sean Bean) to track down his estranged and reclusive brother Ray (Day-Lewis) and convince him to come home and reunite with his family. Ray has been living off grid for a number of years, essentially since his son was born, after an incident that happened when he was in the army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, that we will learn more about as the movie progresses. Somewhat oddly, Jem had essentially replaced Ray in his families life, marrying his former partner Nessa (Samantha Morton) and looking after his now teenage son Brian (Samuel Bottomley), who has been deeply damaged by his father’s decision to abandon him and his mother.

Much of the movie is focused on the conversations between Ray and Jem, who are typically stoic British brothers of a certain age that have not been brought up to and are not used to opening up emotionally to one another. That is exacerbated by their time in the army where strength is valued and talking about your feelings just didn’t register, and the best parts of ‘Anemone’ are centred on Day-Lewis and Bean ‘acting’ as they rake over the past and the circumstances that led them to this moment. From the younger Day-Lewis’s perspective, Ronan’s direction is clearly that of someone who is intent on creating ‘art’ and if ever there was a movie where it would have benefited from less showy direction, this was it. That said, there is clearly talent here and in a different movie with a different premise, Ronan Day-Lewis’s style may work better.

‘Anemone’ will be most memorable for Daniel Day-Lewis returning to the screen with a performance as powerful as ever, but his performance isn’t matched by the screenplay or direction that has generally underpinned his strongest screen performances and that makes ‘Anemone’ ultimately an interesting but flawed movie.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Ronan Day-Lewis

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Bean, Samantha Morton and Samuel Bottomley

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt33549447/