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There are a lot of big films released today. As well as this adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s celebrated novel, you can see Paweł Pawlikowski’s award winning Fatherland, the truly epic animation Wildwood, DC’s horror film Clayface and the movie version of the one of the BBC’s best shows Ghosts: The Possession of Button House. Forget Barbenheimer, this is ‘Klafatherface and the Ghostwood’ Day. 

The question then is what to watch. Well, I’ve seen some of those other movies so I can tell you that when making your choice this should come in at a firm third. It’s nice but it’s not what it could have been and compared to Wildwood and Ghosts it’s just a little bit conventional.

It is a shame because this has a very fine pedigree. Ishiguro’s book is great piece of literature, using its oft used central conceit of a companion robot to explore notions of what it is to be alive and how we deal with the complexity of hope. The way it prompts you to read between the lines on the page, reminiscent of what is by my mind the author’s best work The Remains of the Day, further makes it a special work. As a director Taika Waititi has also shown himself well able to balance humour with sentiment in films such as the wonderful Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Jojo Rabbit, and while the book is not funny it did seem that this filmmaker might be able to pair some of its outlandish ideas in a suitably quirky manner without compromising the emotion that sits as its heart. Waititi and Ishiguro is not a combination you’d immediately have thought of but with consideration it is a pretty tantalising prospect. 

In practice though, not enough of either creative force has made it through. Waititi has a bit been off is game for a while now with none of his work on Next Goal Wins, Thor: Love and Thunder and Time Bandits reaching the heights we have seen from him previously and for good or for bad Klara and the Sun does not bear the stamp of the man as you might have hoped. For Kazuo Ishiguro the idea of this author writing about a realistic android finding its humanity was actually quite a surprise, as with shows like Humans and Westworld and films like Bladerunner Bicentennial Man, Ex Machina and AI, that is a very well trodden path. In his hands it was more than just a generic robot story though. In this interpretation it does sit a little above that but it could have been more. 

I’ve long been a proponent of watching the film before you read the book and that’s not just because I’m a dyed in the wool cineast. My argument is actually that the books are generally better, or at least they have more detail, so getting into one after seeing a related movie you’ve loved will add more, whereas doing it the other way round rarely does. Certainly in this case I wish I’d come to the screen version first. 

Taken on its own merits enough of the story, if not the style and sophistication, of the source material remains though. It isn’t about the nature of being anymore but it is about companionship and belief and lead character Klara’s delightful innocence and optimism remains a key component. Jenna Ortega is certainly compelling in the part and it is good to see her playing someone completely devoid of any darkness for a change. There is also now an ambiguity to the ending that the book did not have and I have to say that I loved this as an addition.

Any other week I would be recommending this quite enthusiastically but there’s just so much more to consider. The movie presents some strong ideas, but as evidenced when it mentions a couple of other films and hints at a critique of their feminist credentials but doesn’t follow through, it just doesn’t develop it’s thinking and concepts as much as it could considering all that sits behind it. 

So, if you only see one new release this week, then you should see Wildwood but if you see three then see this.