Taika Waititi's new film, Klara and the Sun, starring Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 Booker Prize-longlisted novel, had a disappointing release. After receiving poor reviews from film critics, the film failed to open big at the box office. This came as a surprise to many, as Jenna Ortega is one of the most promising young actors in recent times and Waititi is an Oscar-winning filmmaker who also made Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder.
What Taika Waititi said
The filmmaker has now defended his film from the poor reviews that was received at the press screening last week. He took to his Instagram account to share a report that added how Klara and the Sun has received favourable reviews from the audience and scored as high as 78% in Rotten Tomatoes. In the caption, he added, “I haven't read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people.”
He said, “So this Halloween, let's spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn't achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus settled, and became critics. The same people who also hated Jojo Rabbit (laughing face emoticon) Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”
About the film
The dystopian drama is based on Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro's 2021 bestseller of the same name and set in a technologically advanced future, following what one character describes as a third world war triggered by the abuse of the internet.
{{/usCountry}}The dystopian drama is based on Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro's 2021 bestseller of the same name and set in a technologically advanced future, following what one character describes as a third world war triggered by the abuse of the internet.
{{/usCountry}}Jenna Ortega plays Klara, an outdated model of an Artificial Friend, an android companion whose sell-by date is fast approaching when, to her relief, teenager Josie (Mia Tharia) and her mother (Amy Adams) buy her.
Programmed to prevent loneliness, Klara is full of quirks and hopes and believes in the healing power of the sun. Her traits come in handy in a household marked by grief and mystery.
"It felt like a very timely story," said Jenna at the movie's world premiere at the London Film Festival. "To see it put in a futuristic world and see that we still struggle with the same things and the answer's kind of always in one another and listening to one another, I thought it was a really nuanced, thoughtful way of putting it."