A One Mann’s Movies review of “Klara and the Sun”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4.5*, NR).
Having one of your favourite books turned into a film is a terrifying prospect. Will the filmmakers match the visions you created in your head as you read the book? Or trash it completely such that you both hate the film and have your visions from the book forever sullied? (I remember my son, George, being similarly trepidatious on going in to see Project Hail Mary.) The last time, before this morning, I really remember feeling that way was in going in to see The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. And I needn’t have worried! Now we turn from one New Zealander – Peter Jackson – to another Taika Waititi… a director I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with at the movies. Would Klara and the Sun recreate the majesty of Kazuo Ishiguro’s wonderful novel?
Fortunately, the answer was “Yes”. This is a film that, whilst not absolutely perfect, delivered on the visions in my head. The film is currently having its world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall tonight. And I hope the audience there will react to it as warmly as I did.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Klara (Jenna Ortega) is chosen by Josie (Mia Tharia) to be her friend and takes on the responsibility of bringing joy into the girl’s life. It’s not an easy task, considering Josie’s complicated condition and her fraught relationship with her domineering mother (Amy Adams).
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Moderate threat, violence, injury detail, infrequent strong language.”)
Talent:
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne, Aran Murphy, Antonia Prebble, Harry Greenwood, Laura Interval, Davida McKenzie, Rachel Forman, Jesse Griffin.
Directed by: Taika Waititi.
Written by: Taika Waititi & Dahvi Waller. (Based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro.)
Running Time: 1h 56m.
Review:
Positives:
- I mentioned in my introduction how scared I was about Waititi’s version destroying my mental pictures developed from the book. I have to say that, from the opening scene it wasn’t just LIKE my vision…. it was EXACTLY LIKE my vision. (Well… beggar man and his dog were to the left of the shopfront, not the right, but I can’t really quibble about that!) I felt a thrill of excitement that my mental pictures were being brought to life on the big screen. The dreaded Coolings machine was perfect; the barn on the hilltop was perfect. Just all perfect.
- Jenna Ortega is just fantastic as Klara. When I first heard about the casting, I had my doubts. But she absolutely nailed it. Her facial mannerisms are just as you would expect an AF to be: charming, warm, winning. Her quirk – of standing on one leg “like a flamingo” – seems to have been invented for the film version, but I really liked it. And the character keeps it up… when she freaks out by going outside for the first time, her right leg naturally and comically bends back, which must have been quite difficult for Ortega to do in practice. Later when she is ‘glitching’ after a dramatic ‘event’, Ortega adopts a wonderfully vacant expression, devoid of the life we saw at the start of the film.
- Another difference from the book is the addition of the robot scarecrow (Jesse Griffin) in the film. The device allows for someone else for Klara to converse with, as well as adding an important plot point relating to ‘PEG-9’ (which is another point – see below – which is mansplained when it really need not be).
- The script really nicely creates the ‘world of the future, today’. Of course self-driving cars will have seats that face forward and backwards: why would they not? Of course the remaining humans in jobs (including the housemaid Melania ( a very good Rachel House)) will be terrified of the AFs taking their remaining jobs away: “You’re not replacing me robot… stay in your lane”. A conversation about humans “having nothing that wasn’t now irreplaceable” is very prescient given the current focus on the world-domination of AI, as focused on by Artificial.
- The script is also stuffed with some great dialogue.
- When Klara is introduced as a ‘discontinued’ B1 model to Josie (Mia Tharia) and Chris (Amy Adams) Chris asks “This is not the model that killed those people”. (No, she is reassured… “that was the B2s” – which is now why they have moved on to the B3s!)
- When Klara blunders around the house: “Sorry, I still have box legs.”
- When Klara is undressed, Josie says “No vajuju. I guess not”. (What spoil sports!)
- In the hilarious ‘socialising’ scene with the other ‘uplifted’ kids, when the un-lifted Rick refers to Atlas Brookings as a “school” he is viciously corrected by one of the nerds: “IT IS AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL FORTRESS!”.
- I wondered how the rather downbeat ending of the book would be treated by the film. In the end it is rather ‘cutified’ and made more uplifing. I didn’t mind that… ya gotta leave the cinema with a bit of a spring in your step after all.
- The cinematography by Mike Berlucchi was beautiful, especially the close-ups of Ortega worshipping her sun-God.
- I loved the score by Michael Giacchino. The music where Klara observes the sun ‘blessing’ couples in “love” swells to a beautiful theme that – I won’t deny – gave me a lump in my throat
Negatives:
- The film occasionally mansplains, or robotsplains, things. An example is when they first go to meet up with Josie’s boyfriend Rick (Aran Murphy), there are comments and questions from Rick that he would certainly have already known. It is a weak spot in the script that we didn’t need.
- I missed the “oblongs” from the book…. Klara’s observation that humans spend a huge amount of their time “staring at their oblongs”. Perhaps, with the absence of the internet (it got “taken away from us after WW3”), perhaps there’s nothing to see on them anyway?
- Although I laughed at a famous line from Star Wars in the Morgan Falls scene, it feels a bit on the nose.
- It was great to see Steve Buscemi in the film (I didn’t even know he was in it): however, he isn’t really given much to do with his role.
Summary Thoughts:
A real delight for me, Klara and the Sun – unusually – delivered on my vision of the book. I loved it. I am hesitant giving the film 4.5 stars, since I feel star-inflation is running away with me at this LFF! (There REALLY are a lot of great films coming down the pipe at you people!). But – what the hell. This is a film I would gladly watch again in a heartbeat.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBGE-vnvQq0.
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