Culture 3 min read By Morgan Griffin
Taika Waititi defends Klara and the Sun against critics he calls irrelevant
The director of Jojo Rabbit has pushed back against poor critical reviews of his latest film, dismissing critics as out of touch while citing its audience score.
Taika Waititi has taken to social media to defend his latest directorial effort, Klara and the Sun, after the film drew poor reviews and bleak box office numbers. The Oscar-winning filmmaker shared an Instagram post featuring the film's poster alongside its Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 78 percent. The critics' score, by contrast, sits at 28 percent, the lowest of Waititi's career so far, including his earlier work on Jojo Rabbit.
On Saturday, Waititi used the post to take aim at the people who had panned the film. He described critics who gave the movie a negative assessment as irrelevant, out of touch and obsolete, and referred to them as «sad lost souls» who had tried to rain on his parade. The audience score he highlighted had by then slipped to 73 percent, a detail that shows how the reception has split between professional reviewers and everyday viewers.
Waititi said he no longer reads reviews of his work. He claimed he has not read a review in 15 years, adding, «But I do listen to the people.» In framing his position that way, he set audience reaction against the professional press and presented the public response as the measure that matters to him.
The defense comes as Klara and the Sun faces a difficult run at the box office. The combination of a low critical score and softer audience numbers has made the film's commercial prospects a subject of discussion in the entertainment press. Waititi's public response has drawn attention of its own, because it arrived while the film was still being judged by critics and ticket buyers alike.
The gap between the two scores is the central fact of the film's reception so far. A 78 percent audience rating suggests that a meaningful share of viewers responded positively, even as the critical consensus turned sharply against the picture. Waititi's remarks put that gap at the center of the debate, arguing that the verdict of ordinary moviegoers carries more weight than the judgment of reviewers who, in his account, have fallen out of step with audiences.
Waititi's own record makes the criticism notable. He is best known for Jojo Rabbit, which earned him an Academy Award, and his work has generally been received warmly by reviewers, which is why a critics' score of 28 percent stands out as the lowest of his career. Whether the film's audience numbers hold up over the coming weeks will help determine how the release is ultimately remembered.
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