Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong

Daniel Day-Lewis returns for the first time since Phantom Thread (2017) with Anemone, a small-scale drama about a hermit with an unsavoury past, and his brother (Sean Bean)‘s solitary mission to reunite him with his estranged son (Samuel Bottomley) and ex-wife (Samantha Morton). The already-messy dynamic between the brothers is even further complicated by Bean taking Day-Lewis’ place in the family as both husband and father during his unexplained, decades-long absence.

Anemone has the Day-Lewis family woven into its DNA. Not only is it built around the legendary Actor, giving him an ample collection of monologues with which to chew the scenery, it’s also the feature directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. The pair share co-writing credits too. I feel like there may be some real-life (and totally speculative) parallels to be found between Day-Lewis‘ fabled, method approach to his work and the story of a father leaving behind his previous life for an extended period to become a strange, mustachioed character, (and mend some shoes), as envisioned by his son.

Regardless of its possible origins, Anemone is a rugged and decidedly sparse film. The first 90 minutes are largely a game of teasing out drips and drops of information around whatever led to Day-Lewis’ isolated existence in the woods, and how his departure impacted his family. When the shoe finally drops, I found it hard to respect the decision to keep everything so under wraps. The Movie would have benefited from laying out its secrets much earlier, giving the characters more of a chance to actually develop. Instead, Anemone is content to sit on its premise–there’s a scary guy in the woods who left his family and he won’t say why–while the Screenplay builds expectations for the answers (and their potential fallout) that it can’t live up to. After all this inward drama, at the very first moment we might see some external movement in the story, it’s over. It’s tempting to describe the movie as a “character study”, because it’s certainly about a character, but I’m not so sure about the “study” part. Day-Lewis embodies the tortured soul of Ray Stoker, but the movie doesn’t do much to expose his psyche beyond forcing him to tell his story to Bean. While no one can fault Day-Lewis’ menacing and vivid performance, it’s nothing particularly revelatory after the likes of Daniel Plainview or Bill the Butcher.

Anemone‘s greatest strength is Ronan Day-Lewis’ camera. The Film is absolutely crawling with sublime forest imagery, and I’m surprised this is the work of a first-timer. He routinely harnesses the elements into his gorgeous and precise compositions. I found myself wondering very early on if the younger Day-Lewis rented the best wind machines in the world, or rolled his camera for hours, waiting for the perfect gust. And his drone pilot makes the case for a new category at the Oscars.

It’s disappointing that, in spite of a phenomenal Cast and a beautiful visual style, Anemone comes up short as the soulful story of an estranged man. It’s not a dead loss by any means, and I’d be interested to see what Ronan Day-Lewis creates separate from his father. Maybe this was just the project he needed to get his foot in the door. From the sounds of it, Anemone might also be the movie that brings Daniel Day-Lewis out of acting retirement and into a new chapter of his already-mythic career. Fingers crossed!

Focus Features and Universal Pictures Canada release ANEMONE October 10, 2025.