Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara and the Sun is one of the quietest great books of recent years: a story about love, illness and loneliness told entirely through the eyes of an artificial friend who worships the sun. Handing it to Taika Waititi, the maker of Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok, was always going to be a gamble. Quiet is not his natural register.
The gamble has not paid off. There is a lot to like around the edges, starting with Jenna Ortega’s endearing central performance and a genuinely strange, storybook vision of the future. But this is a film that keeps undercutting its own feelings with jokes that do not land, and by the end it has rushed through so much plot that the small, aching story at its centre gets lost.
Klara and the Sun has a radiant star at its centre, but Taika Waititi keeps stepping on the light.
Movie at a Glance
- UK and Ireland cinemas: 23 October 2026 (wide release)
- US cinemas: 23 October 2026 (wide release)
- UK certificate: 12A
- Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
- Director: Taika Waititi
- Screenplay: Taika Waititi and Dahvi Waller, from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne
- Music: Michael Giacchino
- Distributor: Sony Pictures
- Genre: Science-fiction drama
Viewer Match
- Best for: Jenna Ortega fans and anyone curious to see how Waititi’s style handles a tender literary source.
- Maybe skip if: You love the novel’s restraint and want a faithful, melancholy adaptation, or Waititi’s whimsy has grated on you before.
- Mood and pace: Dreamy, uneven and increasingly hurried, with sudden swerves between comedy and sorrow.
- Cinema or streaming? Streaming will do. The visuals are lovely, but the film rarely builds the emotional pull that justifies a cinema trip.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: nothing beyond the premise of the novel.
A Robot Who Worships the Sun
Klara is an Artificial Friend, a solar-powered companion sold to wealthy families for their children. She is an older model, quietly outshone by the newer machines in the shop across the street, and she believes with childlike faith that the sun is a kindly god. When she is chosen by Josie (Mia Tharia), a lonely, gifted teenager with a mysterious illness, she moves to a remote house in the country with Josie’s anxious mother Chrissie (Amy Adams) and a wary housekeeper (Rachel House).
It is a beautiful set-up, and Waititi is clearly fond of it. The early scenes in the shop, with Natasha Lyonne’s brisk store manager and Klara peering out at a city she barely understands, have a lovely sense of wonder.
Ortega Is the Reason to Go
Jenna Ortega is the film’s great asset. Her Klara is wide-eyed, eager and gently uncanny, with tiny computational glitches that make her both funny and moving. She and Mia Tharia share an easy, natural chemistry, and the friendship between Klara and Josie is the most convincing thing on screen.
Amy Adams has less to work with as a grieving, brittle mother, and Steve Buscemi arrives late in a role that hints at a much darker film than the one Waititi wants to make. Rachel House gets most of the genuine laughs as the suspicious housekeeper.
Whimsy Where the Heartache Should Be
The problem is tone. Ishiguro’s novel works because Klara’s calm, limited viewpoint lets the sadness creep up on you. Waititi widens the story and keeps reaching for a quirky gag or a comic rug-pull just as a scene threatens to become profound. Some of the jokes are charming; many simply deflate the moment.
The final act is the weakest stretch. It races through plot strands that needed room to breathe, and a resolution that should land like a quiet blow instead feels contrived and oddly weightless.
A Lovely World to Look At
Where the film does succeed is in its design. Mike Berlucchi’s warm cinematography and the production design build a future that feels handmade rather than chrome-plated, mixing periods and places into a storybook world that is genuinely distinctive. Michael Giacchino’s score adds sweetness, sometimes a little too much.
It all makes Klara and the Sun a frustrating watch: a film with a glowing performance and a striking look, let down by a director who does not seem to trust stillness.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
Klara and the Sun has an enchanting lead performance from Jenna Ortega and a lovely, uncanny look, but Taika Waititi’s tonal swerves and an overstuffed final act drain the heart out of Kazuo Ishiguro’s delicate story.
- Performances: 6.5/10
- Direction: 4.5/10
- Screenplay: 4/10
- Score: 6/10
- Cinematography: 7/10
- Entertainment Value: 5/10
- Overall score: 5/10
Star rating: 2.5/5
Verdict badge: Skip It
One-line verdict: Ortega glows, but this sentimental, muddled adaptation never finds the quiet power of the book.
Watch the Official Trailer
The official trailer may reveal more than this spoiler-free review.
Have you read Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, and could any film capture Klara’s quiet voice? Tell Movieversalfilm what you think.