Klara and the Sun (2026) Columbia/Sci-Fi-Drama RT: 116 minutes Rated PG-13 (thematic elements, some violence, strong language) Director: Taika Waititi Screenplay: Taika Waititi and Dahvi Waller Music: Michael Giacchino Cinematography: Mike Berlucchi Release date: October 23, 2026 (US) Cast: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne, Rachel House, Jesse Griffin, Harry Greenwood, Sophia Bryant-Taukiri.
Rating: ** ½
“We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.”
The above quote is from the 1959 classic turkey Plan 9 from Outer Space. The words were spoken by the psychic Criswell in the opening monologue. However, I doubt he envisioned the future we’re living in right now or the one we’ll be living in sooner than we think. We already have AI and self-driving cars. Can robot beings be too far behind?
Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) directs Klara and the Sun, an adaptation of the dystopian sci-fi novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. I’ve not read the book, but I can’t imagine the film being faithful to the source. Going by the Wikipedia synopsis, it appears to follow the general storyline, but fails to adequately explore the deeper themes it touches upon. In particular, I’m referring to the evolving relationship between humans and AI and how the latter is affecting the world at large. It’s a timely issue that Waititi glosses over in favor of levity and silly humor, a stark contrast to the drama that unfolds in the main character’s new home.
Klara (Ortega, Wednesday) is an Artificial Friend, an outdated model seemingly destined to be melted into parts for newer models. She lives in a store run by “Store Manager” (Lyonne, Poker Face), a quirky sort who acts as mother to the inventory. Klara isn’t your usual AF. She gets her energy from the sun which she sees as a living entity and a god to be worshiped. She often prays to it. She has a sense of wide-eyed wonder like a child. She also possesses empathy unlike her fellow AFs.
Klara gets one last shot at being picked before…. well, you know. Lucky for her, somebody wants her. Josie (Tharia, The Education of Jane Cumming) spots her in the store windows and likes what she sees. Her mother Chrissie (Adams, Arrival) isn’t so sure. She tries to talk Josie into buying a more advanced AF from the shop across the street. Josie has her heart set on Klara. She thinks she’s special and luckily, she’s on special.
Klara is then boxed up and taken to Josie’s home in a remote area surrounded by a wheat crop. She’s to be a friend to the lonely 15YO who underwent a procedure called “lifting”. Basically, it’s a genetic alerting that turns the recipient into a genius. Unfortunately, the process has serious side effects. Josie is gravely ill, something that everybody knows but doesn’t talk about.
The two girls start to bond over the usual female stuff. Josie gives Klara a wardrobe makeover and helps her acclimate to her new environment. Klara keeps Josie company, watching over her while she sleeps. Then she sees the sun set on a hill behind a barn. She becomes convinced the sun lives in the barn. She decides to pay a personal visit to ask him to shine his healing powers on her new human friend. Okay, maybe not all of it is the usual female stuff.
Chrissie still isn’t sold on Klara. She makes it clear she’ll send her back to the store if she screws up. She’s not the most maternal mom in the world. She’s cold and distant, the result of a family tragedy some years earlier. As I’m sure you can deduce, it’s a front she puts up to mask her fear of losing her daughter. She doesn’t want or need another tragedy in her life.
Klara and the Sun is a somewhat frustrating viewing experience. Its tonal unevenness is its biggest issue. It sets up a dystopian world where the internet has been outlawed and the populace divided into social classes that favor the lifted over the unlifted. One thing remains exactly the same though; teens still mock peers who don’t own the right whatevers, AFs in this case. I’m guessing Ishiguro examined this new society more closely in his book. Waititi only scratches the surface in his film choosing instead to hide the melancholy behind his trademark quirkiness and deadpan humor. Instead of a serious treatment of a potential future hell, we get physical comedy involving Klara’s clumsiness as she attempts to calibrate to new environments.
Waititi also botches the emotional content of Klara and the Sun. A movie about a dying teen should tug at the heart more than it does. Instead, the director tries to lighten up the proceedings with comedy that simply doesn’t land. The humor is awkward and out of place. The same can be said of Waititi. He’s not the right director for the material. He takes a serious story and turns it into something like Bicentennial Man complete with an ersatz Danny Elfman score.
Jenna Ortega is one of the more interesting young actresses working in film right now. She consistently makes bold choices in the roles she accepts. She’s quite good in Klara and the Sun. She nails it as the child-like Klara who sees the world differently than anyone else, human or AF. She has her unique personality glitches like standing on one leg like a flamingo without realizing it. Ortega imbues Klara with a unique physicality (pay close attention to her movements) and deep emphatic energy.
Tharia is pretty good as Josie, a lifted teen who just wants to have a normal teen life. She wants to hang out with her non-lifted boyfriend Rick (Murphy, son of Cillian). She doesn’t want to rub elbows with the snooty, arrogant lifted teens her mother invites over for a party that turns into a bullying session. Josie too is coping with the family tragedy. She lives in its shadow. She accepts it and internalizes her pain. Tharia gives it her all, but the direction lets her down.
Adams does a decent job as a mother not unlike Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (1980). The only difference is MTM would never even consider an idea like the one Chrissie has about dealing with pending loss. Steve Buscemi (The Only Living Pickpocket in New York) shows up briefly as a slightly sinister associate of Chrissie. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just leave it at that.
I don’t think Klara and the Sun is a terrible film by any means. It’s just an underwhelming one. It’s disappointingly shallow. The writers (Waititi and Dahvi Waller) take a superficial approach to the source material leaving the deeper themes to just sit there unexamined. What is it they say about the unexamined life?
