Taika Waititi's 'Klara and the Sun' Gets Savaged at London Premiere

Nobody was expecting a miracle, but this bad? Taika Waititi's adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel 'Klara and the Sun' had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 15, and the critical reception was, to put it plainly, a disaster.

According to World of Reel, <cite index="25-5,25-6">twenty-five months after shooting wrapped, the film's premiere at the BFI London Film Festival produced reviews that were, to put it mildly, a bloodbath, with not a single major outlet coming to its defense.</cite> The film sits at a 23 on Metacritic, which, for context, puts it in the territory critics reserve for films they'd rather forget they saw.

The premise had real promise on paper. <cite index="19-1">Waititi directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Dahvi Waller, adapting Ishiguro's 2021 novel.</cite> <cite index="24-3">Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, an artificial friend purchased by a young girl named Josie, whose mysterious illness and strained relationship with her mother, played by Amy Adams, takes unexpected turns as Klara discovers the world around her.</cite> The supporting cast includes Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne. Sony's 3000 Pictures is distributing, with a wide U.S. release set for October 23.

So what went wrong? Critics at London have a pretty unified answer: Waititi leaned into whimsy when the material demanded restraint. In its review, Variety called it a "calamitous android fantasy" and argued that <cite index="22-4">his variously cutesy, kooky affectations fight the stoic sadness of Ishiguro's storytelling at every turn.</cite> Deadline's review was no kinder, describing it as <cite index="21-3">a sporadically funny meditation on life and premature death that, like Mark Romanek's gloomy attempt at Ishiguro's 2005 novel 'Never Let Me Go,' can't quite capture the subtleties of speculative literary sci-fi.</cite> The Guardian, per JournalArta, called it <cite index="27-5">"a sentimental and laborious mess," criticizing its treatment of artificial intelligence, love, and grief.</cite>

Variety's concern about the film's commercial prospects is pointed. <cite index="22-5">Having premiered at London after being conspicuously absent from September's season-launching festivals, the film opens in theaters on October 23 and looks to have all the cultural staying power of a standard ChatGPT conversation.</cite> That absence from Venice and Toronto, where prestige films typically build awards-season momentum, now reads less like a scheduling quirk and more like a warning sign Sony saw coming.

For Ishiguro readers, and there are a lot of them, this one stings. The novel is a genuinely strange, quietly devastating thing, a first-person account from an AI narrator who loves her human charge with a devotion that only makes the book's final act hit harder. It's exactly the kind of book that resists adaptation because the power is entirely in the voice. Romanek proved that with 'Never Let Me Go.' Waititi, it seems, didn't take that lesson seriously enough.

For Ortega, the reviews are at least somewhat sympathetic. <cite index="22-1">She tries hard to illuminate this misbegotten adaptation</cite>, and most critics acknowledge the performance lands better than the film deserves. That'll count for something with her audience, though probably not enough to save the opening weekend.

Waititi has been here before, commercially speaking, but not critically. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' was messy and divisive; this is something closer to a rout. <cite index="25-1,25-2">His career has been on shaky ground for a while now, and this will likely only sink him further.</cite> Whether 'Klara and the Sun' tanks or quietly finds its niche audience in the weeks after release, the conversation around Waititi's trajectory just got a lot more uncomfortable.

Sources cited:
- World of Reel (https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/10/15/taika-waititis-klara-and-the-sun-panned-by-critics-gets-1-star-reviews-at-london-premiere)
- Variety (https://variety.com/2026/film/news/klara-and-the-sun-review-1236914992/)
- Deadline (https://deadline.com/2026/10/klara-and-the-sun-review-taiki-waititi-jenna-ortega-amy-adams-1237158580/)
- JournalArta (https://journalarta.com/en/2026/10/17/taika-waititi-klara-and-the-sun-review/)
- Wikipedia (Klara and the Sun film) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klara_and_the_Sun_(film))