Klara and the Sun is a film that blends the innocence of a wide-eyed, box-fresh AI companion with the real-life human emotions of loss and love, something our AI friend isn’t necessarily privy to. While exploring themes of companionship, loneliness, and grief, Taika Waititi ’s take on Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun has a certain robotic feeling that has nothing to do with wires or an exoskeleton.

I guess it’s a shame, and somewhat scary, that the concept of corporeal artificial intelligence companions being sold at ‘friend stores’ on high streets just doesn’t seem all that foreign anymore. For a film that confronts two very real, contemporary subjects, AI and ‘biohacking’, the depiction failed to evoke much interest.

We follow Klara (played by Jenna Ortega ), an older, solar-powered generation model AF (Artificial Friend) who gets purchased by work-focused mother Chrissie ( Amy Adams ) at the behest of her daughter Josie (Mia Tharia).…