- Director: Baltasar Kormakur
- Screenplay: Baltasar Kormakur, Olafur Johann Olafsson
- Cast: Egill Olafsson, Koki, Palmi Kormakur
- Cinematography: Bergsteinn Bjorgulfsson
- Editing: Sigurdur Eythórsson
- Score: Hogni Egilsson
- Genre: Romantic drama
- Runtime: 121 minutes
With a narrative split between the late 1960s and 2020, we follow the life of Iceland native Kristofer (Egill Olafsson). In the 60s he abandons his studies at the London School of Economics on a whim to work as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant where he falls for the owner’s daughter, Miko. But the course of true love never did run smooth and – with the reason unknown to us at the start – by 2020 Miko is gone and Kristofer is back home in Iceland, alone, having been married to an Icelandic woman and subsequently widowed. 2020 Kristofer is gradually losing his memory; he’s an old man now – he’s got one last chance to revisit the past while he still has a grasp on his mental faculties. This voyage takes him halfway round the world in an attempt to reconnect with Miko in her homeland of Japan.
It’s 2020 though, with lockdowns and the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to come betwixt Kristofer and the search for his lost love. ‘Touch‘ acts as an ode to Japanese culture (the food in particular), and we learn of the stigma citizens who survived the atomic bombing during World War II faced from society, they were known as ‘hibakusha’ (translated as ‘survivor of the bomb’).
It’s heartfelt throughout, with humour in the right places and a lovely score by Hogni Egilsson. Both actors playing Kristofer are excellent, providing a contrast between a floppy-haired communist in his younger days and a man in his twilight years, yearning for his first and only true love. The scenes featuring the young couple are beautifully tender and the actors have believable chemistry.
For a musing on memory, it’s one that will stay in the mind for long afterwards.
My rating: 9 / 10
SilverScreen 