Daniel Day-Lewis, who many consider to be one of the best actors of all time, wasn’t supposed to come back. The man literally retired twice. First after The Boxer in 1996 when he traded film sets for an Italian cobbler’s workshop, and again after Phantom Thread in 2017 when he decided he was, once more, done with acting. For good this time. But then along came Anemone, a film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, and suddenly, the three-time Oscar winner was back in front of the camera again. But not everyone was happy about his comeback film. Anemone didn’t connect with every critic, and now, just 18 days after its release, the film is already on VOD.
According to Day-Lewis, his return wasn’t just about continuing his filmography but about family. He even co-wrote the screenplay with Ronan, crafting a story about “the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers, and sons.” We knew it would take a special project to pull the Oscar-winner out of retirement, and this was exactly that.
Focus Features and Plan B could already see the awards and moved to give Anemone a healthy rollout. Ronan’s debut film was released to over a thousand theaters on October 3rd and it included a cast made up of Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green appear. British Independent Film Award winner Ben Fordesman from Love Lies Bleeding and The Thing with Feathers handled cinematography. So, yes, all the ingredients were there.
And yet, audiences didn’t seem to care much.
After two weeks, Anemone managed to do just $1 million at the box office. And that was despite Empire calling it “a powerful story about father and sons, told by a father and son”. Even Time Out called it “an acting masterclass”. But not everyone was onboard. The Washington Post wasn’t as kind, dubbing it “a home movie that should have stayed home.” And The New York Post said it felt like “a series of loosely related, hot-glued traumatic memories.”
Now, just 18 days later, it’s out of theatres and available VOD. If you missed it, you can now stream it from your couch. And if we’re honest, for cinephiles, this is probably the ideal way to experience it anyway. Watching Daniel Day-Lewis act again is an event that might not be appreciated on the biggest screen but rather in the quietness of your own home.
So, no, Anemone is not the triumphant Hollywood comeback some might have expected from Daniel Day-Lewis. But it’s something more. Still special. Just more personal. Plus, if it rekindles Day-Lewis’s passion for acting again, then the box office doesn’t matter. We all win if Day-Lewis returns.
Anemone is available on VOD via Apple and Amazon.
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