Klara and the Sun Review: Waititi's Tender Sci-Fi Drama

Klara (Ortega) is an Artificial Friend - a solar-powered companion designed to observe, learn, and love. She's selected from a showroom managed by the enigmatic Manager (Natasha Lyonne) and brought home to Josie (Mia Tharia), a bright but gravely ill teenager whose family is quietly fracturing under the weight of loss. Josie's mother, Chrissie (Amy Adams), clings to Klara as a kind of lifeline, while the household's grief-scarred atmosphere tests the AI's innocent, almost devotional understanding of the human heart. Meanwhile, Josie's neighbor and confidant Rick (Aran Murphy) circles the periphery, offering a portrait of adolescence on the edge of its own uncertainty. Klara, with her unwavering wonder and literal-minded empathy, becomes the unlikely emotional anchor for a family that has forgotten how to hope.

What strikes you first is the stillness. Waititi, working from a script that prizes observation over exposition, films Klara's world with a soft, sun-dappled patience. The camera lingers, the ambient sound drops, and we're asked to see the mundane through her alien-yet-innocent eyes. It's a bold register for a director known for kinetic energy, and for the first hour it works beautifully, building an atmosphere of quiet ache.

Ortega is the film's beating heart. Playing a being whose emotions are sincere but not quite human, she calibrates every gesture with unnerving precision - a tilt of the head, a pause a beat too long, a smile that lands just shy of natural. It's the kind of performance that could easily tip into mannered imitation, but she anchors it in a genuine, searching warmth. Adams is reliably excellent as a mother buckling beneath a smile, and Tharia holds her own in the film's more fragile scenes. Buscemi, in a smaller turn, adds a welcome jolt of texture, while House brings a stern gravity to the household's governance.

Where the film stumbles is in its middle stretch, when the thematic gears grind. Ishiguro's novel is a delicate inquiry into what makes us human, but the adaptation sometimes mistakes slow for profound and lets certain subplots drift. A mid-film detour into Klara's solar rituals saps momentum, and the script occasionally over-explains what the imagery already communicates. At 116 minutes, "Klara and the Sun" feels both too long for its slender plot and too short to fully honor its ideas.

Still, when the film leans into its central relationship - Klara's devotion to Josie, and the family's gradual reawakening - it's genuinely moving. Waititi stages the climactic emotional beats with restraint, and the final act lands with a poignant, bittersweet resonance. It's a flawed but sincere film, one that trusts its audience to feel rather than be told.

Pros

• Jenna Ortega's career-best performance as Klara - precise, tender, and quietly haunting.
• A gorgeous, contemplative visual style that earns its slower pace.
• Strong supporting turns from Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, and Steve Buscemi.
• An emotionally resonant final act that avoids easy sentimentality.

Cons

• Uneven pacing, especially in the sagging middle section.
• Occasional over-explaining undermines the film's show-don't-tell ethos.
• Several subplots feel underdeveloped given the runtime.

"Klara and the Sun" is a thoughtful, imperfect adaptation that succeeds most when it stops trying to explain itself. Waititi's restrained direction and Ortega's luminous work make it a rewarding watch for patient viewers, even if the film never quite matches the quiet devastation of its source. It's a 116-minute meditation on grief and hope that earns its moments of grace - just don't expect it to rush toward them.