Klara and the Sun director Taika Waititi calls out ‘failed artists’ behind brutal reviews

Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi has hit back at critics who have given his latest film, Klara and the Sun, a pretty brutal reception, calling them “sad lost souls” who failed to achieve their dreams of becoming artists.

Klara and the Sun is adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling book of the same name. The film is set in a dystopian future where androids are sold as companions for humans. It stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, an Artificial Friend who is bought by a teenager named Josie, played by Mia Tharia.

It is an emotional book and an equally emotional watch. But critics haven’t exactly been convinced by the final result.

The film currently has just 26 per cent from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with a much stronger 78 per cent audience rating.

The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey awarded it two stars, describing it as “both a betrayal of Ishiguro’s quiet, meditative vision and a poor imitation of Waititi’s own, pre-Marvel work”. Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw described the film as “a sentimental and laborious mess”. LA Times’s Tim Grierson called the film “disastrously twee”, criticising its excessive sentimentality and lack of genuine emotional connection. The Telegraph’s Tim Robey suggested it’s “mind-meltingly dreadful” and “might be the most infantile film of the year”.

So… the reviews have been pretty harsh.

‘Let’s spare a thought for those sad lost souls’

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Taika Waititi (@taikawaititi)

The film has struggled with critics since its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival earlier in October. But audiences seem to have had a very different reaction.

Over Halloween, Waititi shared an image on Instagram highlighting the difference between the film’s critics’ score and audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “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 wrote.

He continued, “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.”

Waititi, who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his 2019 film Jojo Rabbit, ended his post with three more words for the critics. He wrote, “Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”

Before the film’s release, Waititi spoke to Variety about the challenge of adapting Ishiguro’s novel while still bringing his own style to the story. 

He said, “The book is not funny. There’s some humorous moments in it, just the way that Klara sort of misinterprets things, or just certain ways she sees the world, which I think as a reader, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s sweet and innocent and funny.’”

He added, “I wanted to make sure that I brought my own tone that I usually do to my films into this, but I didn’t want to mess too much with the actual sort of overall tone of how the book reads, because it is really beautiful, that book. It’s, you know, a slow burn and on the surface, not much happens. It’s just so much bubbling away underneath.”

However, judging by the reviews, not everyone thinks that approach worked.

Klara and the Sun struggles at the box office

Unfortunately, the negative reviews have kind of resulted in Klara and the Sun, struggling massively at the box office. The film reportedly earned just $701,059 during its opening weekend in the US. And then another $145,000 in its second weekend.

Made on a reported production budget of $20 million, it has brought in approximately $1.74 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

Sony had originally planned to release the film in around 1,900 cinemas across the US. But that number was reduced to 880 before its opening weekend, after the early reviews.

There has also been a setback for its international release, with its planned theatrical release in Spain reportedly cancelled. Spanish publication Hobby Consolas stated that the decision followed the film’s poor box office performance and negative reviews.

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