You can call it a nepo baby vanity project if you want, but there’s something oddly touching about “Anemone” — not necessarily the film itself, but what it represents.
Daniel Day-Lewis, one of cinema’s most reclusive actors, came out of retirement just to star in a movie directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis. You can sense that this wasn’t about a career move, or awards, or some grand comeback. It feels like a father doing something for his kid. Your dad probably did something just to make you happy too.
Unfortunately, audiences didn’t return the favor. “Anemone,” distributed by Focus Features, has been a disaster for moviegoers. Day-Lewis’ long-awaited return to the big screen has been largely ignored — the film dropped a staggering 80% in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to just around $1M after two weeks. That’s despite Focus giving it a decent wide release in about 1000 theaters.
As for the film itself, well, “weird” is putting it mildly. Everything looks and sounds gorgeous. The cinematography is slick, the sound design immersive, and both Day-Lewis and Sean Bean give the kind of thoughtful, textured performances you’d expect from them. But the script? It’s a pretentious mess. The narrative barely holds together, motivations are murky, and you never feel emotionally connected to anyone on screen.
This was a movie that needed glowing reviews to generate strong word of mouth. Without that critical boost, “Anemone” was never going to break through beyond curiosity value. There are only so many diehard Daniel Day-Lewis fanboys out there.
Still, there’s a small silver lining here. Maybe, just maybe, this project reminded Daniel Day-Lewis of what he misses about acting. The man doesn’t owe us anything, but if “Anemone” somehow reignites that creative spark and leads to another great performance down the line, then maybe it was worth the trouble.
Sometimes family makes you do weird, beautiful, commercially disastrous things.