BFI LFF 2026: Klara and the Sun – Is There a Typo in the Dystopia Handbook? It’s a Warning, Not a Warming ★★★☆☆

Disclaimer: Movie spoilers ahead. I have never read the book.

Klara and the Sun speaks to the importance of a constant in life. The ultimate truth that anyone, even artificial intelligence, left completely to their own devices is doomed. Pondering the definitions of helping and hindering, and ultimately accomplishments in themselves, it is a warm and wholesome watch, but unfortunately subpar to the expectations that naturally waft outside its being. A project hard to swallow for its contradictions and the questions it leaves in its wake

Is this movie for or against the rise of AI? It will always be slightly confusing to have creatives of today, whose industry is currently being invaded by AI, put effort and energy into showing us a human character’s excellence as an artist and a playwright, only to reveal her ability to do so is due to a futuristic artificial shortcut procedure. Whatever the answer to our question, it reads too shallow for the height of piled up AI opinions it inevitably jumps from premiering as it is in this technological era.

Timing is everything and conversation around artificial intelligence today often, and understandably, short circuits towards a comparison between human and machine, striving to prove that human creativity and feeling cannot be replaced. With our lenses focused to that viewpoint we end up staggering into this world in a queasy blur. I don’t think we can change the human tendency to fear AI and hope that art will prove us right. Now, the future is just all the more unpredictable.

In the simplest terms, Taika Waititi tried to make Barbie (2023), and the final cut we have certainly matches up in humour and aesthetic – swapping the iconic pink out for a classic golden hour motif – but not in message. Though it pains me to say, it lacks the depth. The deepest truth of the movie largely rests on one line, a single spade tasked with doing all the digging – which would be fine if this was not a dystopian novel adaptation.

I recognise the silliness in the suggestion – thinking less of a production because it doesn’t come with a side of mortal dread – but what kind of culture journalist would I be if I didn’t hold out hope for art that can make a tangible impact on its audience, and there are few better platforms for that goal than dystopia.

I understand wanting to preserve a certain relatability to the audience. It’s an honourable goal to have. However, scattered laughter throughout the audience seemed to indicate that it wasn't hitting us like it should. For a movie questioning the state of genuine connection, I don’t know that it succeeded in fully inviting the audience in. I do find myself wondering if Waititi, with his potent tendency for a choice on the wild side of whimsy – whether that be screaming goats or a subconscious preference for the one-legged flamingo stance (you’ll see) – is a director better suited to the escapism game.

Klara and the Sun’s titular duo are an odd underdog pairing, forever a step behind the soft heroism that is expected of them. Through them, the film leans insistently into religious undertones that begin to feel less like an invitation to believe and more like an inner circle we have not been permitted to join. There is something frustrating about a belief system that survives even the hardships it has helped bring about, seemingly untouched by the need for self-reflection. Frankly I mourn a version of the narrative that lets us watch that faith fracture, its foundations dismantled to make room for something new, something better.

Nevertheless, what Waititi has managed to do is make a film that showcases the wonderful specimen that an actor is. Namely, the power of an actor as a reflection. Indeed, the film is saved by the perseverance of its performances, no matter how constrained the walls around them may be, as it begins to prove itself a movie wherein actors have been given an opportunity to try and break through their respective pre-conceptions.

Aran Murphy as Rick is a steady source of brilliance. Not once when he is in frame could he be considered a background character. In fact, he actively defies it. He quickly becomes a character we can absolutely rely on, emitting through the screen a sense of belonging that speaks to potential for a flourishing ongoing career.

Jenna Ortega’s physicality becomes a stunning feature across the whole film, in the demands intrinsically linked to a robotic character but also in heartwarming moments that see her mirror perfectly and with smooth ease the actions of her scene partners. Furthermore, she continues to prove that the secret ingredient to her phenomenal performances lies in her singularly deep understanding and masterful control of her cadence. To be such a strong, reliable lead at this point of her life is what I mean when I say she is a worthy name in filmmaking.

For this one though, she tips her cap to Mia Tharia as Josie. Tharia is our calming effect – our north star and anchor all rolled up into one. Her performance is solid. The way her emotions truly inhabit her body, her steady posture and the softness behind her eyes simultaneously building walls and knocking them down, is exactly what we needed. She carries the complexities of the story on her shoulders with real grace. Her chemistry with Ortega, however, is the true triumph, bringing the emotive full circle back home just when we were losing hope – and the feeling is one of “thank god, finally” and, best of all, … “worth it”.

So, if we define a movie as simply visual stimulus and storytelling then, yes, I see a success, but as a reiteration of arguably the most important corner of literature, the corner that deserves to be loud and sharp, I cannot defend it with full chest. I don’t know if that is a criticism of the book or the movie, but I do not feel you can call Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun a dystopian science fiction. Let’s face it, Ortega’s face will now be plastered on possibly every further copy of the novel and, even without reading it, I am hesitant of that connection.