It’s been a while since we got a Taika Waititi joint. Last time he was in the director’s chair, he gave us Next Goal Wins, a film that didn’t hit the back of the net at the box office, and he hasn’t ventured back to the MCU since Thor: Love And Thunder. However, the Hunt For The Wilderpeople filmmaker is back with an all-new sci-fi film, Klara and the Sun, and with him he has Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Natasha Lyonne and more along for the ride. Check out the trailer here:
The film is based on the bestseller by Kazuo Ishiguro, acclaimed novelist who gave us the fantastic Never Let Me Go and the screenplay for Living, the English-language remake of Ikiru. Set in a world where robots can be brought in to prevent loneliness, Klara (Ortega), an older model, finds herself chosen by a young girl, Josie (Mia Tharia), and bought by her mother (Amy Adams) to keep her company at home. However, as the latter half of the trailer implies, Josie seems to be suffering from a mysterious illness.
The film looks to play into Waititi’s comedic side, with plenty of fish-out-of-water shenanigans as Ortega’s robot is a blank slate, learning about the world for the first time. Here at Empire, we’re big fans of how much joy she seems to get from tumbling headfirst down the stairs, and it looks like Ortega is having a great time flexing her comedic chops. However, if the adaptation is as loyal to the book as it seems, the film will also tackle some heavy subject matter and, in Waititi fashion, tug at the heartstrings while bringing the laughs, so maybe get some tissues ready for this one.
Klara and the Sun will be hitting UK cinemas on 23 October. In the meantime, we’ll be looking forward to seeing what the man who brought us the icon that is Ricky Baker has cooked up.
