Touch – Film Review

Directed by:  Baltasar Kormákur,
Starring: Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Palmi Kormakur, Masahiro Motoki, Sigurdur Ingvarsson, Yoko Narahashi.

In cinemas on August 30

This romantic drama is based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s 2022 novel of the same name and is partly set during the pandemic lockdowns. While this is a period many of us would rather forget it would be a shame if that put you off watching this as it is the kind of sweet and moving film that doesn’t come along very often.

Utilising flashbacks to skip between the present day and the 1960s it tells the story of Kristófer (played by Ólafsson in younger scenes and Kormakur in flashback) who in present-day Iceland has been told to resolve any unfinished business by his doctor as his memory begins failing.

This inspires him to travel back to London to try and locate his first love Miko (Koki in flashbacks and Narahashi in the present day) just as the world goes into COVID lockdown. As he recollects meeting her as a student working in her father’s Japanese restaurant the world is slowly shutting down due to COVID.

While he tries to track her down in the UK flashbacks show their love story from the 1960s culminating in the restaurant suddenly closing and her disappearing from his life forever with no explanation.

While at its core this is a story of lost love and second chances it also manages to deal with some weighty themes including generational trauma.

Its political undertones help it to avoid becoming cloying or saccharine even though Kristófer and Miko’s story is a typical star-crossed lovers’ affair.

All of the performances are excellent, particularly Ólafsson as the older Kristófer. The sense of nostalgia he feels for the life he could have had is palpable and you find yourself rooting for him even though intellectually we all know you can never go back.

This is wonderful storytelling that doesn’t rely on special effects or CGI. It simply tells its tale in an engaging way. A beautiful film that will tug at the heartstrings and linger with you after you leave the cinema.