The film, “Touch,” is by the Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur and it is about a broad subject matter over many years, across different countries, continents and cultures; thus memory, ageing, loss and love constitute its themes. However, this has an exquisitely tender sensibility like a butterfly wing beating.
Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson) is a widowed old man and restaurant owner from Iceland who goes to see his physician about declining memory and fine motor skills. The doctor prescribes an MRI test and asks gently if Kristófer wants to deal with unfinished business or unresolved issues while he still can. This prompts memories of his first love which had caused him to leave grad school in London and start working at a Japanese restaurant. He decides that he will go to London after sixty years just to try finding her. At the time of writing this Touch story however, it was already March 2020 when COVID-19 broke out around the world with Kristofer’s daughter making phone calls full of tension but he would not wait.
On his journey of discovery we go back in forth between present time and the past where young Kristofur (Palmi Kormakur)and Miko (Yôko Narahashi) are seen together in 60s London. In contrast with the cooler palette of today’s era Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson cinematographer uses soft warm colors as well as images that capture these memories.
Kristófer seeking legal studies then engagement in student demonstrations without thinking too much responded immediately on spotting help required banner outside the entrance to a Japanese eatery belonging to Takahashi-san(Masahiro Motoki). That was how he saw miko for the first time,Takahashi-san’s daugher.After a conversation regarding what Krisktofer had been doing after graduation on fishing boats near Iceland,Takahashi-san employs him as a dish cleaner. Throughout the narrative are lush foods prepared with love and artistic flair, Touch while a meal Kristófer cooks for Miko is as beautifully romantic and sensuous as the lovemaking scenes between them.
The young couple talk about John Lennon and Yoko Ono holding a Vietnam War protest “bed-in,” which places it in 1969. In politics, Kristófer thought of it as staging a protest in a five-star hotel. Nonetheless, Miko saw more possibilities for cross-cultural romance in an era when every country was still caught up in WWII memories. Therefore when Kristofer’s friends would visit the Japanese restaurant they could joke about kamikazes; but for Miko, this war had far reaching personal consequences.
In London of this day, Kristófer is however able to locate one of the other waiters who informs him that Miko has now moved to Japan. They are wearing masks, using hand sanitizers, flights have been canceled and temperature checks are going on around him while he learns more about what had happened in the past. The scene involves a Japanese office worker (salary-man) sitting next to him at the counter of a restaurant. Their conversation is frank but full of warmth and good fellowship over alcohol and ends up with them doing karaoke together.
He bought a pair of shoes. He got a Japanese character tattoo when he realized that it was a space for a tattoo shop where there used to be a Japanese restaurant. Like its main character, this film takes some detours and provides much-needed room for breathing which enriches its temperate tone. Some films would make this into some kind of race with Kristófer receiving bad medical test results and lockdowns everywhere. But “Touch” is as fragile as its name implies; it has an atmospheric feel and gorgeous visuals that render it most suitable for the sort of young love that simply takes one’s breath away even if you are young forever.
Kormákur (son of the director) and Ólafsson do not quite look like versions of the same person, but what we see is Kristófer’s memories, and he might very well want to think of his younger self as tall and beautiful. Kormákur is soulful-eyed with an elegant use of his long limbs conveying as much about his character’s thoughtful sincerity as his being fully immersed in Japanese language cultivation. His scenes with Narahashi are touchingly warmhearted. However, their strong chemistry hints at inevitable troubles well before they become apparent to Kris.
Kristófer does not want to take back his youth or get an apology or explanation either.He only wants to see Miko. Nothing else, no hidden agenda. “I was more of an anarchist. Now I’m just old,” he told a person from his past who asked if he was still a communist. Compassion and forgiveness towards all characters in the film fill it up with a generous warmth. It glitters with mercy everywhere.
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