Jenna Ortega makes a funny and delightfully beguiling companion in Taika Waititi’s offbeat and frequently touching take of Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novel.
A lust for life: Jenna Ortega
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Klara isn’t human and she doesn’t want to be. She’s a discontinued Artificial Friend and just wants to find a home to go to. However, as she’s a B1 model without bluetooth, it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that anyone will buy her. Times have moved on and the robotics industry has entered a whole new age and Klara is allowed just three days to stand in the shop window of ‘The Friend Store’. Should a passer-by notice her, then – who knows? – she might find the home she dreams of. “Every new day brings new hope” has become a mantra for the Bl models, but Klara is an odd one, even for her kind, a lifelike AF who speaks to the sun and stands on one leg.
The golden rule for the robots standing in the ‘front alcove’ is not to make eye-contact with the pedestrians outside, so when Klara connects with a teenage girl on the sidewalk, she is locked away in a back closet. Nevertheless, her brief interaction with Josie (Mia Tharia) has made an impact and later Josie returns with her mother (Amy Adams) to take Klara home with her. Having lost her sister to an unspecified medical condition, Josie is desperate for a playmate and as Klara adjusts to the outside world, a rare bond forms between the two. But Josie’s mother is not so keen, nor is the housekeeper Melania (Rachel House), who fears that Klara might replace her. But Klara is a spirited soul, albeit without one, and her generosity and amiability begins to make an impact on the household…
Several major talents have come together to make Klara and the Sun a reality. There is the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, the resourceful and mutable actress Jenna Ortega as Klara and Kazuo Ishiguro, the novelist on whose book the film is drawn. Ishiguro has explored the world of artificial humans before, in his 2005 novel Never Let Me Go (which was filmed in 2010), but the tone here could hardly be more different. Under the direction of Waititi it is inevitably idiosyncratic and whacky, with a generous helping of whimsy and humour. Ishiguro has often explored the tenuous connection between reality and how we perceive it, and of the outsider looking in, which Klara and the Sun perfectly embodies. However, beneath its comic veneer, the film also explores such themes as faith, loss and, of course, mortality.
Undoubtedly the film’s oddness might leave some viewers bemused, or even baffled, but many of Ishiguro’s original ideas and a certain sweetness make it a wholly original and beguiling amuse-bouche. Inviting us to marvel at the wonders of our world through fresh eyes, the film might appeal more to a younger demographic than to those critics who hold Ishiguro’s original text covetously to their chest. Primarily, it is the wholehearted playing of the two leads – Ortega and Tharia – along with the imaginative costumes and Mike Berlucchi’s glorious cinematography that make it a trip worth taking.
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne, Rachel House, Jesse Griffin, Molly Curnow, Harry Greenwood, Ilana Lloyd, Myer van Gosliga.
Dir Taika Waititi, Pro David Heyman, Garrett Basch and Taika Waititi, Screenplay Taika Waititi and Dahvi Waller, from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ph Mike Berlucchi, Pro Des Ra Vincent, Ed Adam Gough and Tom Eagles, Music Michael Giacchino, Costumes Mayes Rubeo, Sound Mike Fentum, Dialect coaches Jacque Drew and Jessica Underwood.
Columbia Pictures/3000 Pictures/Spyglass Media Group/Heyday Films/Defender Films/Piki Films-Sony Pictures.
116 mins. New Zealand/UK/USA. 2026. UK and US Rel: 23 October 2026. Cert. 12A.
