The actor and his son teamed up to create a visually pleasing, but boring piece about an estranged father and son that doesn’t live up to his previous filmograph
After eight years of retirement, Daniel Day-Lewis returns to the big screen — starring in his son Ronan Day-Lewis’ debut feature film Anemone — which the two co-wrote. The actor is famous for his notable performances in highly acclaimed films like Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2007) and Phantom Thread (2017).
Spontaneously seeing his return to acting sounded like a fun idea to my friends and me. Unfortunately for us, Anemone does not live up to Day-Lewis’ past filmography — it doesn’t even come close.
The film is set in northeastern England decades after the Troubles began. It explores the lasting impact of violence from the Troubles, as well as family bonds, generational trauma, Christianity and religious trauma, shame, guilt and love.
It opens with Jem Stoker (Sean Bean) saying goodbye to his wife, Nessa (Samantha Morton), and his adopted son, Brian (Samuel Bottomley). He leaves their suburban town for the woods in search of his estranged brother and Brian’s biological father, Ray (Day-Lewis), who disappeared to live a hermit life while Nessa was pregnant. After Jem finds his brother, he tries to convince him to return to his family.
Previously, Brian had picked a fight with someone who insulted Ray — something Brian had been hearing his whole life due to rumors that his estranged father was a killer. Jem and Nessa believed meeting his biological father could help fill the gap in Brian’s life that may have led him to his mental health struggles.
The story had things going for it, like the historical elements and the rekindling of the brothers’ relationship as they reflect on their father and their past. I enjoyed Ray’s monologue to his brother where we learn why he seems to adamantly oppose Christianity. He passionately retold how he got revenge on his sexually abusive youth pastor. However, the energy from these moments also fizzled out, as the film went on for too long for what it had to offer.
As I struggled to stay awake in the theater, I at least found the film pretty to look at. It was filmed on location in England and Wales, so it wasn’t surprising to see the stunning landscapes. The colors were vibrant and the acting was incredible, as to be expected.
Another thing I liked was the score. It offered dreaminess and intensity that paired well with the themes explored in the film. The score was composed by Bobby Krlic (also known as The Haxan Cloak), who also worked on the soundtracks for Midsommar (2019), Beau is Afraid (2023) and Eddington (2025). However, played over unnecessarily long stills or walking scenes, it only added a nice ambient experience to the lackluster storytelling.
Ultimately, the film chose style over substance. By “style,” I mean a 30-second still shot of seemingly nothing for what feels like every other minute that takes away from the story elements. Any substantial plot point — like the confrontation of religious and familial abuse or conversations that revealed character depth — quickly lost momentum with distracting interjected shots of a random building, a leaf or frequent walking sequences that felt like unnecessary aura farming. There were so many build-ups only to cut to black screens.
For instance, in one scene, Ray is standing by a river when he sees a giant dead fish swim by. After a long focus on the fish, the scene changes and Ray suddenly feels motivated to punch his brother. Perhaps the fish was supposed to symbolize something that would make this sequence flow better, but the symbolism wasn’t conveyed well to the audience, leaving me confused and feeling like something was missing.
Speaking of symbols, a luminescent four-legged creature appears throughout the film. It is up to the viewer how to interpret the creature, but it is neither exciting nor heartbreaking when Ray encounters the creature in a dream. We learn that it has to do with his son in some way, perhaps an ongoing guilt for leaving him, a longing to meet him or anxiety about doing so. We are already aware that he has these feelings, though, so the symbol feels basic because his strong emotions are never expanded on in a thought-provoking way.
I’m not a big fan of using award nominations as a metric for how good a film is or how talented an actor is, but the amount of recognition someone receives can be helpful in offering some perspective to their significance in the film world. In the past, Day-Lewis has starred in six Best Picture-nominated Academy Award films — three of which he won Best Actor for, making him the only male actor with three wins in the category. His returning to acting after all these years by starring in a mediocre film may be disappointing to fans.
I’m all for unconventional, obscure approaches to filmmaking. In fact, I usually love movies where not a lot happens. But visuals should help tell the story, not distract from it. They should evoke some sort of emotion in the audience, not waste their time. Nonetheless, I am happy about Daniel Day-Lewis’ return to acting. I recognize that this is only the beginning for Ronan and I am still interested to see what he will do next.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Header Image by Alex Carrasquillo
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