Terri Harrah 10/20/25
As someone in the theater said after the screening, “Anenome is an art house film.” And in that sense, I got a wish—it felt like being transported back to the 1990s, when art house films were abundant, independent filmmakers were celebrated, and Marvel hadn’t yet taken filmmaking and flushed it into a leach field.
Anenome is not the best film I’ve ever seen, but it does something I haven’t experienced in a long time: it takes its time and treats its audience with respect. It doesn’t over-explain; in fact, it does quite the opposite. The first 10 minutes of the film leaves little to no dialogue. The cinematography is stunning—each shot feels like a canvas painting, lit with warmth & precision.
The opening sequence shows hand-drawn images of chaos, protest, and fear—an immediate reflection of what we are currently experiencing in the world if you are paying attention to the news. It then cuts to a breathtaking shot of a forest before narrowing in on a lone cabin, where a man (Daniel Day – Lewis) lives in deep suffering. What the film does brilliantly is it focuses on individual chaos and the deep generational damage that brings to those around it, when unhealed.
But this film does not ask us to pity him. Instead, it provokes frustration and even anger, making us hope he finally pulls himself together.
Sean Bean, in an almost wordless role, becomes a quiet witness to Daniel Day-Lewis’s lone wolf character—in that way only a brother can. It’s a very specific kind of family dynamic, and the film captures that unspoken language of siblings without hitting us over the head, its subtle and unique like most sibling relationships.
The deeper fascination here lies in the collaboration itself: Daniel Day-Lewis’s son, Ronan Day-Lewis, (Grandson of Arthur Miller) co-wrote the screenplay with him and also directed the film. I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing what comes next from Ronan.
Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a powerful performance as a bitter, angry, wounded middle-aged man in a way I haven’t seen portrayed so honestly in a long time. It’s hard to feel compassion for him because his anger is so consuming—and we all know someone like this. Someone seemingly unreachable & walled up. He inhabits that emotional landscape to perfect intended annoyance.
The film is worth watching if you’re an artist, a filmmaker, or simply craving something different—something that values atmosphere and emotional truth over exposition. True art is expressed here not only visually but in the performances of Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Bean, and Samantha Morton, whose facial expressions convey things that acting school can’t teach.
There’s also a young actor who plays the son, Samuel Bottomley, giving a compelling performance. It’s a great role for him, as he rises to the occasion beautifully by delivering the truth as only children can, who have been forced to carry the sins of their fathers.