Ronan Day-Lewis
Anemone

LA RECENSIONE

How much I wanted to love Anemone, which I was looking forward to more than any other film released last year.

I don’t consider Ronan Day-Lewis a nepo baby in the negative sense of the word, since both his parents are artists themselves, and the idea that you need to come from nothing to achieve something worthwhile seems rather stale to me.

On the other hand, the weight of Daniel's return to a set is a heavy burden that a first-time director has to take into account; both a blessing and a curse, but in this case, more the latter.

Father and son co-wrote the screenplay for this project which—let it be clear—is very pleasant in terms of soundtrack and cinematography. The problem lies in what remains unsaid, because as much as I dislike films that over-explain, sometimes you have to give me that little bit more.

The two brothers (Ray and Jem), masterfully portrayed by the aforementioned Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, let us glimpse the dynamic of their older/younger relationship through their glances and silences (broken up by moments of alcoholic madness, jogging, and danse macabre). But aside from two monologues by the former about the events that led him to seclusion in the woods, how does he intend to finally reach a climax? He simply doesn’t.

The protagonist’s traumas (and young Brian’s) are not sharp enough to justify his behavior, but maybe that’s my own failure in judgment since I was expecting much more; however, just when the film gets to the heart of the matter, the credits roll.

They’re tracking shots moving back and forth, delivering beautiful framing—nothing to fault in terms of style—but what remains is a "Paris, Texas" that stops halfway.