Klara and the Sun LFF review: Jenna Ortega delights in sweet adaptation
I’m stunned by the one-star reviews for Klara and the Sun, because I thought it was a lovely adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro‘s novel. Did we watch the same film?!
The sci-fi, directed by Taika Waititi, is set in a dystopian future where humans get ‘lifted’, an expensive genetic engineering procedure to make them academic geniuses. Society is now isolated, so companion robots called Artificial Friends (AFs) are now sold to keep people company. Much to her mother Chrissie’s (Amy Adams) dismay, her daughter Josie (Mia Tharia) chooses a discontinued model, Klara (Jenna Ortega), to be her AF.
When Waititi was first announced as the director, I groaned, insisting that his comedic style did not align with the quiet, meditative tone of Ishiguro’s novel. I was wrong – he has done a decent job and kept a lid on his more OTT comedic impulses. He’s made a dialled-back comedy that’s sweet, heartwarming and lovely, like Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Sure, it lacks the subtlety of the novel (which is far too subtle and opaque for its own good), but a loyal adaptation of its tone would have made a rather dull film. There are a few changes, but otherwise, it’s faithful to the story, and they do a good job of showing us Klara’s worldview, considering the book is very internal.
Klara is definitely weirder and wackier than I expected, but I found her delightful and funny rather than annoying. I also loved seeing Ortega – who normally plays dark, serious types – in a different register, being silly, fun and smiling. We never see her smile usually! She throws herself into the physical comedy aspect, giving us hilarious movements and facial expressions. I wasn’t sure if she’d be the right fit for Klara, but she captures her lightness, her eternally sunny disposition and her naiveté, being in the real world with humans for the first time.
Tharia, who I’d never seen before, is very natural and charming and she has a great bond with Ortega. I also enjoyed Natasha Lyonne as Klara’s Store Manager and Arun Murphy as Josie’s unlifted friend Rick. Adams is rather one-note as Josie’s mother – who has become closed off due to grief – but she gets more to do later in the film. She’s only a supporting character, but I’d hoped Waititi would find space to make more use of her talents.
Klara and the Sun isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s far from the disaster some critics have claimed it is. I was fully prepared to hate it, but I was pleasantly surprised!
In cinemas from Friday 23rd October