Touch

It's only July 2024 and this is hands down the best film of the year so far. What a dream it would be to see this film be nominated at next year's Oscars for the filmmakers and cast. Hopefully this film will be remembered in some other award races if not the Oscars. The story telling is gentle and beguiling but never slow. There is no wasted moments as Kristofer (Egill Ólafsson) now worried about memory problems after his wife has since passed and living a lonely life in Iceland. He takes the audience on a journey through the start of pandemic through London and Japan (and through extended flashbacks) as he searches for a true love who abandoned him half a century ago. The actors are well chosen for the roles including the actors playing the young Kristofer (Pálmi Kormákur) and his love interest Miko (Kôki). All the emotions and reactions seem natural and their empathy fully earned. A restrained but pivotal role is played by Masahiro Motoki as Miko's father and Kristofer's mentor in Japanese cuisine. Audiences may remember Motoki from the Oscar winning film "Departures". The best films often have stories we wish will never end. We want to know more and this film is no exception. But the ending here is fully satisfying. It's a quietly intense and yet still emotional ending. How do we overcome loss and find the courage to resolve our grief. This story shows how one man finds the will in what initially feels like an impossible situation.

The love story, which unfolds in silence, traverses different eras and places but never misleads the audience, captivating the viewer's heart with its wonderful direction (director Baltasar Kormákur) and the beauty of the camera work (cameraman Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson). Although the story is heartbreaking and at times cruel, songs play an important role in this film to prevent it from becoming too serious. The heartbreaking Icelandic folk song sung at the beginning by an older Christopher (Egill Ólafsson) becomes the central theme of the film. Next, the song by Arai-san (Tatsuya Tagawa) from the Japanese restaurant where young Christopher (Palmi Kormákur) works depicts the love affair between Christopher and Miko (Koki, the restaurant chef's daughter, the father played by Masahiro Motoki), sometimes romantic, sometimes comical and heartbreaking. Along the way, the Icelandic folk songs sung by young Christopher are wonderful, and the karaoke by Kutaragi (Masatoshi Nakamura), whom old Christopher met in Japan, actually fits the theme of the film. The film ends with a moving performance of an Icelandic folk song sung by older Christopher while holding the hand of Miko (Yoko Narahashi), whom he sees for the first time in 50 years. The music used in the film (music by Högni Egilsson) is also very beautiful, but it is rare to see a film where the characters sing so many songs (except, of course, for musical films).

I'm actually surprised there weren't any reviews for this film yet. It has a high score on Rotten Tomatoes.

I am not a very good writer the way other reviews are written, so I'll keep it simple: As you can gather from the trailer, this is a story about an Icelandic man who appears to be reaching a point in his life where he wants to perhaps tie up some loose ends, which included searching for his long lost love. The love affair was set in the rebellious 60s, and featured the younger Kristoffer looking for a job in London while he was still studying abroad from his Icelandic home. He picked a Japanese restaurant because of the help wanted sign outside, but as he was leaving, he saw the restaurant owners daughter and decided he really wanted to work there haha. Well, you can't blame him, Miko, played by the very attractive Koki, has wonderful charisma, and she gave him that second look as she walked away lol. Well, you can sort of guess what happens with the whole dating the boss/father's daughter behind his back, then it's discovered. So the elder Kristoffer was hoping to reconnect with his lost love.

The movie is presented in chronological order, but it jumps back and forth between the present and past. We also get insight into certain stigmatisms that Japanese society can have, and how that affects one's upbringing and destiny.

Overall, it was a very well made film. I found all the actors (the younger and elder versions) very engaging. I was thinking at first this movie was about the young man becoming a better cook at the restaurant, but it's really about the relationship between Kristoffer and Miko.

And if you're worried that there's some sort of over the top, tragic ending, I can't spoil it for you - but you don't have to worry about that.

I hope more people go out to see this film and lend their better writing skills to reviewing this film and hopefully appreciation of it!

It's a search-for-lost-love romantic drama set in 1969 London, England, and March 1980 in London and Japan, with a few scenes between those dates. Kristófer (Palmi Kormakur/Egill Ólafsson) is an elderly widower in Iceland facing increasingly fragile health just as the Covid outbreak is arriving in 2020. He leaves for London to search for a Japanese woman, Miko (Koki/Yoki Narahashi), whom he met in London in 1969 while dropping out of graduate school at the London School of Economics as a frustrated political radical.

We see Kristófer's 2020 search for Miko interspersed with scenes in 1969 when he worked initially as a dishwasher in a restaurant owned by Miko's widowed father, Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki). The film's 1969 scenes follow Kristófer's increasing fascination with Japanese culture, and more particularly with Miko. Their relationship grows until Takahashi-san and Miko suddenly disappear. By "Touch's" end, we learn the reasons for Miko's disappearance that stretch back to World War II.

I loved this movie, partly because I've always been a hopeless romantic. But "Touch" brings together so much from cross-cultural love, the struggle to understand never-before-seen illnesses, and the power of remembering first loves. "Touch" (a recurring visual theme between lovers) perhaps has a bit too neat an ending, but it was all very satisfying. I came close to giving it a 10.

Deeply touching movie, where you slowly get to intimately know several full lives and a lot of partial ones. The main characters feel honest and genuine, while you want to know more even about he supporting cast. The scenes feels right and true, without affectation.

Surprisingly, although every scene appears to have plenty of room, the movie actually cover a lot of ground. .it doesn't stall and ofren takes you in surprising directions, only to make a lot of sense after a few scenes.

At the end, you have experienced the roller-coaster of several lifetimes.

Saw this with few expectatuons, but we were engrossed, moved, laughed and cried,and loved it.

Make sure to watch this absolute delight!