Eight years after vanishing from the silver-screen spotlight, Daniel Day-Lewis returns to play, fittingly, a recluse with little interest in the attention of others in Anemone.

Premiering at the New York Film Festival ahead of its Oct. 3 theatrical release, the directorial debut of the headliner’s son Ronan is a bracing reminder that few actors are as commandingly intense, providing him with a roiled, highly charged role—wrought with anger, sorrow, guilt, resentment, and shame—into which he can heartily bite.

Though its daring gestures don’t always pay off, it’s a tale of internal and external brutality, of fathers, sons and clans scarred by violence, that serves as a sturdy showcase for its exceptional star.

Day-Lewis’ camera emerges out of a bush to catch its first glimpse of Ray St

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