On October 22, one of the most anticipated film adaptations of the year will be released worldwide — "Klara and the Sun", based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. Here’s why this film is a must-see.
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Plot
Klara (Jenna Ortega) is an extraordinary girl: she is a robot, an artificial friend, created to alleviate the loneliness of those she lives with. Klara is an older generation robot, and her chances of finding an owner are slim. One day in the store, while Klara stands in the window, a girl named Josie (Mia Tharia) chooses her, and a special connection immediately forms between them. Josie has a difficult relationship with her mother (Amy Adams), and their family is haunted by the pain of loss. But Klara’s sincerity, curiosity, and boundless devotion gradually help heal the family’s wounds and fill Josie’s world with hope and light.
About Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novel
The film is based on the bestseller "Klara and the Sun," a dystopian novel by British writer and Nobel Prize laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel is set in the United States in an unspecified future. The book immerses us in the world of a unique heroine – a robot girl whose mission is to make happier the children who have a family but feel lonely. It is an exquisitely tender yet impeccably restrained story about life in a world dominated by high technology, a novel class system, and where genetic editing is commonplace.
"Klara and the Sun" was released in 2021, became a New York Times bestseller, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. In the book, Ishiguro continues the themes he explores in his other works, particularly in the novel "Never Let Me Go" (2005), which tells the story of 20th-century England, where people are cloned to create living organ donors for transplantation. Is there anything truly unique about us that cannot be cloned? What can one person give to another? Why do we feel lonely among people?
Indeed, The Guardian, in its review, states that "Klara and the Sun" is a book about what it means to be human: "The novel is set in a speculative future that feels remarkably like the present. Ishiguro writes about a secret moral shift: technological progress has altered people’s understanding of what it means to be human. The novel compels the reader to repeatedly ask questions and seek answers until the philosophical meaning quietly takes hold. "Klara and the Sun" is a book about what it means to be human. The fact that Ishiguro can make such enormous issues feel so tangible and so simple is just one of the reasons he was awarded the Nobel Prize."
Director
Work on the adaptation began in 2020, and in 2023 it was announced that Oscar winner Taika Waititi ("Jojo Rabbit", "Thor: Love and Thunder") would be in the director’s chair. Waititi, born in New Zealand to a Jewish mother and a Māori father, is known for his bold, ironic style and interest in social themes. His most famous film, the dramedy "Jojo Rabbit," about a boy named Johannes living in Germany during World War II who invents an imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, earned the director an Oscar.
Actors
The film boasts a stellar cast. The lead role of the robot girl is played by 23-year-old Jenna Ortega, the star of the series "Wednesday," who already showcases her signature detachment and quirkiness in the trailer. The role of the mother, into whose family Klara comes, is played by Amy Adams, and the role of her daughter Josie is portrayed by Mia Tharia ("The Education of Jane Cumming", the series "The Listeners").
We will see the dramatic story about friendship, loneliness, and what it means to be human on screen on October 22.