Jem Stoker's (Sean Bean) visit to an isolated cabin in the deep woods is at first a haunting, mysterious trip. Concealed under light blue and white and even pure celestial, the residence proves to be a seclusion of his brother, Ray Stoker (Daniel Day-Lewis), who's been hiding there for decades. Soon, complications from both men's pasts are revealed, during which the characters talk a lot, and the camera is given the burdensome task of staying on their faces for way too long. Father and son relationships, disregard of child by parent - and vice versa - are the central themes in display.
Like some of Ingmar Bergman's more insufferable movies, "Anemone," directed by Ronan Day-Lewis (the lead actor's son), contains way too many scenes where a lot is told and said, yet little is shown. The half-baked script is, fortunately, assisted by some excellent cinematography, as the surrounding nature (purple and orange, and everything in between) becomes a character in and of itself.
"Anemone" is celluloid proof that plugging a legendary performer like Day-Lewis into an underdeveloped script amounts to only a half-success. One can only imagine what this could've been; as can the actor's biggest fans, who may be wondering if it was even worth unretiring for the sake of ... this. Either way, it sure has an awesome poster.
☆☆1/2
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