Tag: Samantha Morton

Film Review: “Anemone”

Day-Lewis father and son create a beautifully shot bore

Ray (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Jem (Sean Bean) stare and think and stare in “Anemone.”

Anemone is the directorial debut from Ronan Day-Lewis, son of Daniel Day-Lewis. Both father and son have writing credits on the film, and not coincidentally the film is about a father coming to terms with his past and a son reckoning with his father’s elusive wartime legacy. Ronan, 27, has some prior cinematography credits, and demonstrates a promising grasp of visual staging. However, Anemone asks too much from the audience. Extracting themes and identifying Greek mythological references are welcome forms of audience participation, but Anemone implores the viewer to not only guess narrative context, but then puzzle it together. Lacking a coherent script, Anemone feels underbaked. The film is a style-over-substance exercise in nepo-baby reasoning unfurling at a glacial pace, barely held aloft by Daniel Day-Lewis’s noteworthy performance. Continue reading “Film Review: “Anemone””

Film Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic beasts are plentiful in this magical yet slightly subpar re-intro to a familiar wizarding world.

Newt and a Fantastic Beast
Newt and a Fantastic Beast…and Dan Fogler.

I want a fantastic beast of my own! I’m incredibly relieved that there are moments in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that made me wish the wizarding world was real, and that I was privy to it. (I guess if I wasn’t privy to it, I wouldn’t know if it was real.) Anyway, one of the most wonderful characteristics of the Harry Potter books and early films was the wonder and charm they emitted. Sadly, as the trio of young wizards grew up, the plots became less warm and wondrous and more cold, pale, and dark. David Yates directed the final four Harry Potter films, and he’s back in the helm for the first return to that universe since 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. This return, the first installment of a new Fantastic Beasts series, isn’t as light and funny as The Sorcerer’s Stone, so despite a five year wait-time since the last movie (and 15 since the first), it’s very reminiscent of the dark Deathly Hallows. Part of this is due to the main characters being in their adulthood to start, so the inexperience and innocence of young wizards isn’t front and center. Another part is due to the 1920s New York setting of Fantastic Beasts — whereas most of the Harry Potter series took place in and around Hogwarts and fantastical woodland areas. And this new story is also a bit weaker than the initial Harry Potter entry. Needless to say, there are many reasons why Fantastic Beasts doesn’t capture the charm and magical pull of the original Harry Potter films, yet the beasts and characters fit right in to the world we’ve been missing for half a decade.

Continue reading “Film Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them“