The quirky new sci-fi movie “Klara and the Sun,” directed by Taika Waititi and starring Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, is finally in theaters. I have been so excited to see it as I love Waititi and I loved Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel of the same name.
I was kind of bummed out to see that there were some negative reviews of the film, but I tried not to let it dampen my enthusiasm, and I went to see it anyway.
Its Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes is now 23%, criticized as being sappy and sentimental, silly, and even “soulless.”
Wow. I completely disagree. I found the film to be a faithful adaptation of the book. Ortega was perfectly cast as the titular Klara, an android purchased to be a friend for a teen girl.
In a Vanity Fair interview earlier this year, she said she got into character by studying her nieces and nephews: “It was really interesting, actually, how free and comfortable they were with being naive and how much kinder they were, or forgiving,” she said.
Ortega’s Klara is so adorable and sweet I want to dunk her in my coffee. How can anyone not like her? Maybe it’s Waititi they don’t like? I’m honestly flummoxed by the number of bad reviews. Some said Waititi played a serious story for laughs, which could not be further from the truth. Yes, it had some funny moments, but they were balanced by serious themes of love, loss, and faith. There are also some dark moments, and I was surprised there were little kids in the showing we attended. (It’s PG-13, by the way.)
Klara is an older model Artificial Friend. Her dream is to be purchased, to have a chance to fulfill her robot-ly duties as a companion. There’s a Little Orphan Annie “I hope I get adopted” vibe here. She finally gets picked by a girl named Josie (Mia Tharia) and goes to live with her and her mother (Amy Adams) and their housekeeper, who is jealous and hateful toward Klara. (The housekeeper is Rachel House, who was also in “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Our Flag Means Death.”)
Klara is more or less undaunted by anyone’s negative attitude toward her, but she is eager to please. It’s in her programming to be a people pleaser. (Some of us can relate.) She is religious; she prays to the sun (she’s solar-powered).
Like many sci-fi movies, “Klara” asks what makes us human: Is it our empathy, or our unique personalities? Is it our imperfection? Is it our ability to love? To grieve?
I found the movie beautiful – visually and thematically. Adams is amazing as always, and of course Natasha Lyonne (as the robot store manager) is always fun to watch. I liked Tharia (as Josie) – I have not seen her in anything else, but I imagine we’ll be seeing more of her, and the same goes for Aran Murphy (Josie’s boyfriend), who looks exactly like his famous father (Cillian Murphy).
Ishiguro’s novel “Never Let Me Go” and the film adaptation are equally brilliant and affecting. If you like “Klara,” check that one out too. Make sure you have tissues on hand – both of these movies made me cry like a baby.
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