‘Klara And The Sun’ review: Jenna Ortega stars in Taika Waititi’s overstuffed adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel

Dir: Taika Waititi. New Zealand/US/UK. 2026. 116 mins

Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara And The Sun feels well-suited to our times: it describes a polluted, unequal future world through the eyes of Klara, an AI-powered android – an ‘Artificial Friend (AF)’ – who looks, moves and talks like a young woman. New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok) produces, directs and writes an adaptation that has fun bringing to life Ishiguro’s dystopian vision of technology. Strong performances and imaginative visuals help to make it an engaging fairytale with a distinctive otherworldly tone – but something is lost by widening the story beyond Klara’s tight perspective. 

Something is lost by widening the story beyond Klara’s tight perspective

Following a world premiere at the London Film Festival, Sony Pictures Releasing opens the movie on October 23 in both the UK and the US with an accompanying global rollout. Many should warm to Jenna Ortega’s endearing performance as Klara, especially those who admire her from the Netflix series Wednesday. Followers of Waititi’s work should appreciate a maturing of his more frenetic and eccentric instincts, and readers of Ishiguro’s source novel should recognise a respectful adaptation. Broader audiences may be divided by its occasionally uneasy mix of drama, sci-fi and comedy.  

Klara is chosen from an urban shop window by a wealthy teen, Josie (Mia Tharia), to share a home with Josie, her anxious mum Chrissy (Amy Adams) and their wary housekeeper Melania (Rachel House). In this world (time and place are kept vague), AFs are luxury must-haves, although Klara – who appears entirely human apart from the odd giveaway computational glitch and some subtle glowing lights on her arm – is an older model than the thrusting ‘B3s’ in the shop across the road.

Klara is thrilled to have left the polluted city for the countryside; not least because she can now more easily soak up the sun’s rays – the sun is both her power source and her quasi-god. But she also has to learn to deal with human suffering: Chrissy is grieving the loss of a family member and unenthusiastic about Klara’s presence; the housekeeper sees Klara as a threat to her livelihood; and Josie is keeping a secret about her health from Klara. 

There’s an alternate version of Klara And The Sun that would be intensely dark, and that’s even before a creepy character played by Steve Buscemi appears in the film’s final act. But that’s not where Waititi takes his film. He doesn’t exclude unsettling material (there’s a strong scene where some grotesque students from an exclusive collegae visit Josie), but he consistently steers the film back to friendlier and less challenging territory.

That includes exploring the tender rapport between Klara and Josie (there’s an easy, natural chemistry between Ortega and Tharia), spending time with Josie’s sympathetic boyfriend Rick (Aran Murphy) and a zany android scarecrow (Jesse Griffin). He also races through so much plot as the film progresses that the focus on Klara and her relationship with the world around her becomes diluted. The final act feels especially overstuffed, and some potentially powerful story strands come across as less moving and impactful than they should.

Where the film is more successful is in creating and maintaining a consistent uncanny atmosphere that serves as a constant reminder of Klara’s view of the world as strange, new and exciting. It’s an original, cleverly conceived vision of the future, with costumes and streetscapes drawing on influences from different periods and places. Mike Berlucchi’s cinematography and Ra Vincent’s production design take their cue from the warmth of human relationships rather than the chill of technology. Helped by Ortega’s doe-eyed and energetic performance, they create a welcoming storybook world that makes Klara’s fascination with her surroundings entirely believable and enjoyable to share.