A Father-Son Drama That Says Very Little, Very Slowly.
The best way to describe Anemone is as a deeply personal film. Jay ventures deep into the woods to track down his brother Ray, who has been living off the grid in order to make him reunite with his son.
Anemone is undeniably beautifully shot, but sadly hollow as it never quite bridges that desperate connection we’re waiting for between its central characters. Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis set the bar high just by being Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis, yet neither performance lands with the emotional heft we’ve seen from them before. Anemone is Ronan Day-Lewis’s directorial debut however his mark feels feather-light, almost hesitant, as if hoping for meaning to emerge through the actors via sheer force of will as opposed to say, directing them.
There’s one striking moment involving a block of ice cracking a window – the prelude to the unleashing of a biblical storm. It’s a symbolic crescendo that… well it doesn’t lead anywhere, but it was nice to look at.
What we’re left with is a muted exploration of men haunted by their past, the shadow of their father’s, and silently suffering in the present. Actually the inability of men to communication is one thing the movie does get right; it gives us men escaping into the woods, stewing in silence, dancing around the issue and punching each other – and expects that to speak for itself. It doesn’t.
A movie that had so much to say but chose to say nothing at all, leaving us with a crushing sense of relief once it was finally over.
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