Klara and the Sun Movie Review

In these days of AI, comes a movie selling the idea of the need for an AI friend. The movie is based off the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Klara is in desperate need for someone to take her home. She has always wanted a friend but, even spending time in the stores front window, she has never been considered or requested. Every day, she begs for this day to be the day she is chosen. She addresses the sun with a “thank you for gobbling up the darkness” greeting and acknowledging its nourishment, a message not lost on those appreciative of the environment and the sun being such a big part of keeping everything alive. Every lifeform owes their lives to the sun. Klara’s AI model is charged by sunlight, so she sees the sun as a God. The film tackles that concept, also deep relationships, love, life and death, it gets heavy at times which improves the story.

Klara’s not one of the newer models, such as the B3’s, but instead she’s a B1, one of the “oldest, most unsoldest” as she’s considered by Store Manager played by Natasha Lyonne. She tells Klara and the others to Razzle Dazzle everyone and get sold since they’re old AF. She tries desperately since a new store with new models just opened up across the street from hers… not a good sign. They have Bluetooth! She reminds them if they don’t get sold, they’ll be melted down and scrapped for parts.

Last day in the window, Klara is depressed and worried, however, she’s finally noticed. A girl named Josie (Mia Tharia). Against the rules, Klara interacts with her. Taken to the store to get an AI friend, her mother thinks such an old, outdated model will be too empathetic and human like, grants her daughter her wish and purchases Klara. This is set in a dystopian future, and Josie is a “Lifted” human, meaning she has been elevated to be a genius. She can read a lot and easily process what she read, she can write and even paint. You learn there’s something else about her that is a big part of the film, but I’d prefer not tell you about it in case you don’t already know.

There are interesting characters all about, such as scarecrow (Jesse Griffin), Capaldi (Steve Buscemi), and the very jealous housekeeper, Melania, who is played brilliantly by Rachel House. Speaking of performances, Jenna gives you the true reason to see this movie, not necessarily on the big screen, but rather, some day on streaming. Jenna’s facial expressions are on point, her eyes dart back and forth, giving you the impression that she’s taking in too much information and she twitches. She gives you the impression she’s the robot she’s attempting to be. Jenna gives a noteworthy performance.

There’s a lot to this film, some of which I really liked, but the ending was flat, leaving me wanting more. It disappointed me very much. I expected more from Taika Waititi, who made, probably one of my favorite movies ever, “Jo Jo Rabbit.” Had he decided to think more about the ending, rather than just seemingly walking away from the story, I could have and would have told you to see this right away. As it is, catch it on streaming at some point.