Anemone

I was thrilled when I learned that Daniel Day-Lewis was coming out of retirement to star in his son's directorial debut, Anemone, and I immediately wanted to see it.  My nephew and I finally had the opportunity at the Broadway last night but, unfortunately, we were both incredibly disappointed.  In fact, the more we talked about it, the more we disliked it.  Ray Stoker (Day-Lewis) was so traumatized by his experiences as a paramilitary officer in Northern Ireland in the 1960s that he left his wife Nessa (Samantha Morton) and infant son Brian to live in self-imposed exile in a remote cottage in the woods.  Now, many years later, Brian (Samuel Bottomley) is struggling after joining the military himself and fears that he will end up just like his father.  Nessa sends Jem (Sean Bean), Ray's estranged brother, to deliver a letter asking him to return and help his son.  Tensions are palpable when Jem arrives because there is a lot of unresolved conflict between the brothers, most notably the fact that Jem is now married to Nessa and has raised Brian, but Ray eventually achieves a reconciliation with his brother and the possibility of one with his son.  Day-Lewis is a compelling presence (and often a terrifying one) on screen during the many scenes of protracted silence but it is in two very powerful monologues, especially the one in which he finally reveals the incident that psychologically scarred him, that he really proves why he is one of the greatest actors of his generation.  Bean and Morton are also outstanding actors but they are not given much to do beyond reacting with stoicism or concern, respectively.  The cinematography featuring the surrounding landscape is beautiful and atmospheric but there are also lots of intricately composed shots that range from vaguely symbolic (I had no idea what many of them were meant to represent, especially the supernatural elements) to utterly pretentious.  Finally, even though the story is slight, the pacing is still extremely sluggish (at least 30 minutes could have been removed from the runtime) and it becomes very boring tedious watching similar scenes over and over again. I really wanted to like this because I am a big fan of Day-Lewis but I wouldn't recommend it.