At first glance, Anemone, the debut feature from Roman Day-Lewis, seems like it’s lured one of our greatest living actors out of retirement for a dull nepo baby art project: all slow-moving plot and impressionist stylings. The early scenes consist almost entirely of people sitting silently in rooms, saying nothing; their silence doing the heavy lifting. As the plot drags on – pacing is not exactly Day-Lewis Jr.’s strong suit – the story gradually blooms into something hauntingly resonant: a ghost story about a man who abandoned his life, leaving behind a pregnant wife and unborn son. This dereliction of familial duty lingers more heavily the deeper we get to know Ray (Daniel Day-Lewis)and what drove him to leave behind a full life and take to the woods. The hostile Irish landscape, with its undulating trees, whipping winds, stormy clouds, crashing waves, and borderline apocalyptic weather, becomes a character unto itself: a tempest threatening the authority of the almighty. It is here that Ray has lived in isolation for over twenty years. Read More