It’s never the easiest realisation to have when it comes to facing one’s own mortality, but if any situation over the last few years pushed such a mentality to the forefront, it was the pandemic. Whether it was wrapped up in regrettable decisions, the roads not travelled, or the relationships we formed or lost, life seemed more precious during the years we were forced out of a sense of freewill. Touch, a strikingly tender film from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (who, as of late, has a predominant action-heavy filmography in the United States, helming such efforts as 2 Guns, Adrift and Beast), looks at certain facets of life left behind through such a brush with mortality for the ageing Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson, superb)
Adapted by Kormákur and Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson from the latter’s book of the same name, Touch holds considerable emotional weight as it follows Kristófer, a cook living a simple existence in a small Icelandic town. His wife has tragically passed away, and he’s almost resigned himself to the fact that the rest of his days will be lived out in a certain isolation. Following a visit to his doctor that reveals he’s in the early stages of on-set Alzheimer’s, Kristófer is inspired – off the advice of his doctor, who suggests that patients in his situation get their affairs in order and resolve any unfinished business – to track down his first love from half a century prior who disappeared without a trace.
Already a difficult task to undertake given the lack of information he has on said love – Miko (Kōki) – Kristófer’s mission is hindered even further by the COVID-19 pandemic, which Kormákur quite organically weaves into the story, managing to offset its seriousness with an appreciated humour; one sequence sees Kristófer taken aback at the fact that he’s the sole diner in a hotel restaurant and still has to abide by certain policies. COVID-inclusion aside, Touch would still prove a relatable, reflective experience as Kristófer’s desire and inquisitive nature as to what happened to “the one that got away” is a throughline to audiences of a certain universality.
Kristófer’s mission to find Miko is heightened for audiences through the film’s structure of altering its timelines between the modern day Kristófer’s travels and his younger self’s story of finding his own sense of purpose and falling for Miko during his days as a waiter at a Japanese restaurant; Palmi Kormakur providing beautiful work as a young Kristófer. Initially he asks for employment at the establishment in something of an insincere gesture to prove a point to his fellow London-based, radical classmates, but meeting Miko, the headstrong daughter of the restaurant’s owner, Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki), his outlook shifts, and a genuine familial dynamic is established within the diner’s walls.
Whilst there have been those that have likened Touch to Celine Song’s Past Lives, the basic narrative of exploring a love unknown is really all the two share in common. Touch is very much its own creation, and the weaving worlds that Kormákur has created are gorgeously delicate and prove welcome in its ability to lose audiences within its serenity. Both of Kristófer’s journeys remind audiences of the beauty in slowing down, and it’s when Touch delights in the smaller, more introspective moments that Kormákur’s romantic tale bathes in its loveliness; that may seem too simple or old-fashioned a word, but the eternal optimism this film hones is truly exquisite.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Touch is screening in select Australian theatres from August 22nd, 2024.
