by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m confused.
As much as I try to stay in a review bubble (especially for movies I’m reviewing), the negative feedback on Klara and the Sun was hard to avoid. I walked into my basically empty theater preparing to exit calling for an emergency career counseling meeting for writer/director Taika Waititi and stars Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams. So, why, pray tell, did I walk out somewhat charmed?
The easy answer is, we can thank Jenna Ortega and her portrayal of the titular Klara. I’ve said before that I’m a bit of a mark for Ortega (well, except you, Hurry Up Tomorrow) in that I just find her such a charming screen presence, and it could, in fairness, be happening once again. Admittedly, though I was initially charmed by Ortega, the character of the Store Manager (Natasha Lyonne), got my concern antenna up a bit, thinking that the general consensus might be right. We initially find Klara having long been waiting to find a home that she fears may never come, especially now that the newest model has made her kind even more outdated. Despite some of my early qualms, I was taken in by the oddities that make this particular robot unique—her talking to the sun, which she deifies and charges her battery with as well as some other eccentricities.
Once she connects with Josie (Mia Tharia), that dynamic and that bond which forms between them made me feel all warm and fuzzy. We don’t know why she’s finally chosen Klara, though it’s initially framed as some teenage rebellion against her overbearing mother figure, but as that relationship continues to evolve, I found it lovely. Josie patiently helps Klara understand the world, as Klara’s kindness helps Josie navigate her past as well as the complications of her “lifting,” a process which allows her mind to be boosted to a genius level.
Slowly, Klara melts the hearts of everyone she interacts with, including Josie’s mother (Amy Adams), who, though initially wary of anything that isn’t the best of the best, turns around on her. (A quick further note on Adams, given her recent troubling career choices, she’s not bad here, but it was just nice to see her in something I found to be competent.) Ryan (Aran Murphy), Josie’s love interest, likewise is charmed by Klara—if mostly through her wanting to help Josie. The family’s help (Rachel House) is perhaps the least developed on this front, but the film makes up for it by creating a lovely friendship between Klara and a fellow robot Scarecrow (Jesse Griffin).
When we’re not just soaking in the Ortega interaction with fellow people, humans, or her deification of the sun, the story structure here is pretty familiar. There are some secret hidden traumas—both past and ongoing—which add some wrinkles that our naïve android navigates. I didn’t particularly need the jealousy trope thrown in here.
With our main creative, Waititi, I found things to be similarly mixed. When it comes to his adaptations, he’s already garnered some goodwill from me, because, as much of a departure as it was, I much prefer his version of Jojo Rabbit to the dour tone of Caging Skies when I finally got my hands on it. With this script, there’s the trademark Waititi odd humor (co-written with Dahvi Waller), which may not always work, but did more often than not. The Store Manager I mentioned previously was one such moment where I found the tone a bit much. However, there was one scene, where Josie interacts with her fellow lifted kids, that I found to be outright distracting as the tone absolutely falls flat. Behind the camera, there’s legitimately great shots, particularly as Waititi plays around with light and the sun looming large in the narrative. However, it’s not fully successful. There are some digital moments that are outright distracting. Maybe that’s the point, to point out the artificialness at play, but that doesn’t mean I have to vibe with it.
But back to my confusion.
I’m not 100% sure what this film’s point is, if I’m honest. The artificial friend is a good thing, but it’s older, so it’s not quite like the other friends. Klara as a character is good, but only in the way that she illuminates what’s human about everyone, but she’s also still a robot and an AI friend. So, as AI bots become even more of a thing than they were when the book was released five years ago, what am I supposed to take away from what our main character and protagonist is supposed to be teaching me? What am I supposed to make of the friendship between our two leads, who I legitimately cared about? Also, big robot-combine bad, so we don’t like THAT type of robot. However, even making the big bad an agricultural robot confuses me in Iowan. Are we supposed to yearn to live like the Amish and forego the use of machinery in our agriculture? Also, also, unlike the friendships, we’re not introduced to a human version of farming, so what even is the comparison it’s trying to make? Even the film’s ambiguous ending is somewhat perplexing. Not only am I not sure where I’m supposed to fall on it, I’m not 100% sure what it’s trying to say.
Despite those questions, maybe it is just as simple as being a beneficiary of lowered expectations, but the most confusing thing of all is that … I think … I kind of …
Rating: Liked it
Klara and the Sun is currently available to watch in theaters.
You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Bluesky and Letterboxd