Touch – Film Review
by Frank L.

Director – Baltasar Kormákur
Writers – Olaf Olafsson, Baltasar Kormákur
Stars – Egill Ólafsson, Kôki, Palmi Kormákur

Kristofer (Egili Olafsson) is the ageing proprietor of a small restaurant in Iceland. He goes to his doctor as he has various signs of diminution in his skill sets. The doctor suggests that as he still has time it might be a good idea to sort out his affairs. Kristofer thinks about his past as a student in London in the late nineteen sixties. It was a time of protest and he dropped out and took a job washing dishes in a Japanese restaurant. Miko (Koki) was the beautiful daughter of the proprietor and the young Kristofer (Palmi Kormakur) was enchanted by her and they became lovers. But as she lived at home and he in digs, their time together was secretive. Without warning, the restaurant closed down and Miko disappeared without a trace. Kristofer returned to Iceland and later married, but he never forgot Miko and the encounter with his doctor motivates him to try to meet her again.

With COVID restrictions being imposed in February 2020, he travels to London to see if he can find a trace of her, which results in him flying to Hiroshima from where she originally came. So the story is sandwiched between the dropping of the atomic bomb and the Covid pandemic. With elegance, it straddles the contemporary ambience of Iceland, England and Japan, over a sixty-year period.

Between Hiroshima and Covid, Kormakur tells a story of captivating young love which although inexplicably severed was never extinguished and had in the shadow of old age a gentle encore. The London of the late nineteen sixties and its innocent optimism is captured in muted tones. The exoticism of delicately prepared Japanese dishes stands in stark contrast to what Kristofer’s landlady Mrs. Ellis (Ruth Sheen) suggests he might eat. Fortunately, we do not see what she is offering. The story is driven by the infatuation which the two lovers have for each other and Palmi Kormakur and Koki are spell-binding together. In a different way so are Egili Olafsson and Yoko Narahashi when they reconnect in their wrinkled maturity.  It is a life-affirming story.

Set against some of the horrors of the last eighty years, here is a story where the better traits of the human condition are seen and lauded. It was uplifting and gives you hope. It should not be missed.