Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel “Klara and the Sun” has drawn criticism for misaligning the filmmaker’s comedic sensibility with the book’s contemplative exploration of artificial consciousness. The film stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, a humanoid artificial friend awaiting purchase in a store run by Natasha Lyonne, set in a post-Third World War future where the internet has collapsed and people are largely housebound.
According to the review, Waititi’s approach—which proved successful with “Jojo Rabbit”—proves ineffective here. The film opens with broad comedy reminiscent of “Annie,” introducing Ortega’s “perma-sparkly” Klara among other AFs designed to keep isolated children company. When Klara is purchased by sullen teenager Josie (Mia Tharia) and brought to her family’s isolated farmhouse, the narrative shifts toward tragedy as it emerges that Josie has a life-threatening illness.
The critic notes that Ishiguro’s novel, a companion piece to his earlier “Never Let Me Go,” trades clones for AI robots while exploring similar themes of consciousness and humanity’s place in an uncertain world. That earlier work received a more fitting adaptation in Mark Romanek’s 2010 film, which matched the author’s understated, mournful tone. The current film’s Michael Giacchino score and production design—described as “overbearingly precious” and featuring aggressive gold filtering—undermine the source material’s stoic sadness.
Ortega is praised as “innately charismatic,” but the review states she is “defeated by the one-note writing of her character as a relentlessly hopeful, Pollyanna-esque naif.” Amy Adams, as Klara’s skeptical owner Chrissy, is similarly “script-trapped,” unable to express the grief her character carries.
The film attempts existential explorations of artificial life and afterlife but falls short compared to comparable works like “Ex Machina,” “Marjorie Prime,” and “Her.” Waititi’s writing relies on irony and farce—techniques that “curdle unhappily” with the source’s earnest melancholy. The film opened in theaters on October 23, and the critic suggests it will have limited cultural resonance, pitched too juvenile for adults and too dull for children.
Key facts
- Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, a solar-powered artificial friend in the film adaptation of Ishiguro’s 2021 novel
- The story is set in a post-Third World War future where the internet has collapsed and people are largely housebound
- Amy Adams plays Chrissy, Klara’s skeptical owner whose daughter Josie has a life-threatening illness
- The film opened in theaters on October 23
- Critics say the director’s comedic approach clashes with the novel’s melancholic tone about artificial consciousness