It takes a special kind of effort to go wrong with a story by Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, but Hollywood has never been short of impossible experiments. His Klara and the Sun asks whether a machine can understand love, grief, and the fragile business of being human. Taika Waititi has brought that quietly devastating question to the screen, although the first signs suggest the answer is not quite what anyone hoped for.

For a story about an artificial friend who looks to the sun for salvation, the early forecast is decidedly cloudy. With the film premiering at the BFI London Film Festival, the first critics have delivered their verdicts, and the numbers are beginning to tell a rather uncomfortable story of their own.

As of October 17, Taika Waititi’s adaptation Klara and the Sun sits at 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, marking the lowest score of his directorial career. Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, the science-fiction drama stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, an Artificial Friend purchased by Josie (Mia Tharia), a teenager battling a mysterious illness.

Amy Adams plays Josie’s mother, Chrissie, while Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne round out the cast. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 15 and is scheduled for a theatrical release on October 23.

The critical response has been anything but a ray of sunshine. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the film one star out of five, criticizing its overbearing quirkiness and performances. Ben Gibbons of Screen Rant argued that the adaptation fails to capture the beauty of Ishiguro’s dystopian tale, instead turning it into a heavy-handed science-fiction comedy.

Meanwhile, Ishiguro is already teaming up with Tim Burton on an untitled original film set in postwar Japan, making the contrast particularly striking: as one adaptation of his work struggles to impress critics, another cinematic collaboration is taking shape.

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And the disappointing reception carries a more personal sting because this was not simply another production on Waititi’s calendar. The filmmaker brought the project home to New Zealand, surrounded by familiar collaborators, while his family had its own reasons to celebrate the casting.

Speaking to Nine.com.au at the London premiere, Taika Waititi revealed that casting Jenna Ortega earned him some serious approval from his teenage daughters, Matewa Kiritapu and Te Hinekahu. 

“I got some dad points for sure,” he said, recalling their enthusiastic response: “Good move, Dad.” 

It is an enviable parenting achievement, although a 20% Tomatometer score is a rather less flattering family souvenir. 

The production also reunited Waititi with New Zealand, where he filmed the adaptation alongside longtime collaborators. Rachel House, who plays housekeeper Melania, described the shoot as a source of national pride, while Adams connected with Chrissie’s complicated maternal guilt and the impossible desire to make every decision right for a child. For a story about love, loneliness, and the limits of human understanding, that emotional investment matters. 

Unfortunately, affection behind the camera cannot guarantee that the finished film will strike the right chord with audiences. Waititi’s adaptation now faces the difficult task of winning over viewers who cherish Ishiguro’s delicate exploration of what makes us human. 

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Can Taika Waititi’s adaptation still win over audiences despite its rocky start? Let us know where you stand on the film’s early reception in the comments.