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Touch begins in March 2020, just as COVID19 is surrounding world, and the lockdowns are on the verge of beginning in the UK, with our lead, Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson), travelling to London because in his 70s, his memory is starting to fail him, and he doesn’t have long to resolve any outstanding issues in his life.
As you get older, like the film’s lead, you start reminscing about your past. Here, we go back many decades to see the young Kristófer (Pálmi Kormákur) coming to study in London, later choosing to drop out of Uni once he goes for a job interview at a Japanese restaurant, meets the owner’s daughter, Miko (Kôki), and there’s clearly a mutal attraction, but… she has a boyfriend. Well, don’t all women?!
The year of when they first meet isn’t initially stated, but I estimated it as being around 50 years earlier, and then the playing of John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance confirmed it as 1969, although I’m sure somewhere late on, “1968” was mentioned.
Along the way, the younger man wants to learn how to cook a traditional Japanese meal, really getting into the culture, and prepares a meal of Steamed Clams, or it might’ve been Steamed Hams.
Meanwhile, in 2020, the rather amusing hotel clerk in London (Kieran Buckeridge) tells Kristófer he has to leave, simply because the hotel is closing due to COVID, and he’s the last guest; gets a tattoo over the forest that is his hairy upper arms; and there’s an odd moment when he asks for certain private details from the hotel manager, who just gives them up, and breaks data protection by doing so! That would never happen if he wants to keep his job!
Okay, it’s done to further the plot, but it’s still crazy.
However, his memory condition leads to him even forgetting his daughter’s birthday, back home, and we only see him speaking to her over the phone, given how he’s travelled to London to begin his search.
But for his younger self, one day, Miko ups and leaves, and goes back to Japan with her Dad, leaving her mother in London. But what led to this? Well, that’s to be left for you to discover, but Touch tells the story by brilliantly switching back and forth between the young couple and the older Kristófer’s search, with every single actor being absolutely on-point.
Director Baltasar Kormákur‘s Everest showed us a mammoth task for several people to attempt. Can Kristófer’s quest, in Touch, be even more insurmountable?
It’s just such a shame that with so little promotion for this film, and just a mere poster put up for it in my Odeon – which is still there, the film was given one screening time each day for a week, and that was it. Plus, that was at 11.15am, and I’d prefer it to be later in the day when I’m watching a subtitled drama – since I’ve woken up by then, but sometimes, maximum effort is required.
As an aside, Icelandic dialogue is translated into English subtitles, but not English dialogue, so it’s a bit jarring when some dialogue suddenly isn’t subtitled, and if you missed what was actually being said – since I wasn’t expecting English coming in mid-sentence, it’s rather annoying. Just subtitle the whole lot!
Overall, Touch is one of the year’s best films, and something that’s almost perfect. Another watch may help cement that, although the hotel clerk’s aforementioned actions is beyond ridiculous.
There’s no mid- or post-credits scenes in this film.
Touch is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release on December 2nd.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 121 minutes
Release date: August 30th 2024
Studio: Focus Features
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (X-OCN ST(6K)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 9.5/10
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Producers: Mike Goodridge, Agnes Johansen, Baltasar Kormákur
Screenplay: Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson
Novel: Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson
Music: Högni Egilsson
Cast:
Kristófer: Egill Ólafsson
Young Miko: Kôki
Young Kristófer: Pálmi Kormákur
Takahashi-san: Masahiro Motoki
Miko: Yoko Narahashi
Mrs. Ellis: Ruth Sheen
Kutaragi-san: Masatoshi Nakamura
Hitomi: Meg Kubota
Arai-san: Tatsuya Tagawa
Goto-san: Charles Nishikawa
Jónas: Sigurður Ingvarsson
Markús: Starkaður Pétursson
Phillip: Akshay Khanna
London Hotel Clerk: Kieran Buckeridge
Tattoo Shop Owner: Brandy Row
Dr. Stefánsson: Benedikt Erlingsson
Inga: María Ellingsen
Dr. Kobayashi: Eiji Mihara
Naruki: Masaya Mimura
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.