Film: »Touch«: Unforgotten Happiness | nd-aktuell.de

Probably every person has them. This box with special memories from childhood or youth. Director Baltasar Kormákur opens it up in the touching drama “Touch,” in which he uses many flashbacks to not only talk about a great love, but also about an event that still has an impact generations later.

“Touch” is based on the novel “Snerting” by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, with whom Kormákur wrote the screenplay. “Touch” becomes a place of well-being not only because of the loving Japanese decor of the restaurant, where a large part of the film takes place, and the excellent actors who also master the silent acting.

»Touch« is not a story marked by sadness. Throughout the film, Kristófer exudes a certain confidence on his great journey.

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The action begins in Reykjavík. Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson) runs an Icelandic restaurant there and has lived alone since his wife died. He lost sight of his great love Miko (Kōki) around 50 years ago. The young Kristófer (Pálmi Kormákur) met the daughter of the Japanese restaurant owner Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki) by chance during his studies in London and was fascinated by the young woman since their first meeting. When Kristófer was diagnosed with early-stage dementia shortly before the Covid lockdown, he quickly decided to travel from snow-covered Iceland to London to understand what separated them back then.

Most of the time, Kristófer is shown alone – also due to the pandemic. The senior visits the rooms of Takahashi-san’s former Japanese restaurant, which have now been converted into a tattoo studio, alone. He is also the only guest in the hotel. The fact that he is not allowed to use the phone in the hotel restaurant is an unintentionally funny moment, as he is alone in the hall with the piano player. That’s fitting, because “Touch” is not a story marked by sadness. Throughout the film, Kristófer exudes a certain confidence on his great journey.

The images from the past are warm-hearted throwbacks. Kristófer discovers a restaurant called “Nippon” by chance. As a joke from his fellow students, he applies to work as a dishwasher and enters a fine little world. The focus is on Miko and their gentle getting to know each other, characterized by fleeting touches, glances and small conversations in the backyard.

You can also feel the flair of the 60s. Kristófer initially takes part in student protests, wearing bell-bottoms and listening to John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.” Kristófer reads a newspaper report about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s non-violent protest, while Miko would have more reasons to take to the streets for peace. She is a “Hibakusha” (what that means will not be revealed here). Little by little, the Japanese Kristófer reveals that she had to leave her homeland out of necessity. The Icelander will only later understand why Miko keeps her love secret from her strict father.

Director Baltasar Kormákur constantly switches between past and present, which works surprisingly well. Cinematographer Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson used old lenses for all the scenes from the past, giving them a pleasant sepia cast that clearly separates them from the colder reality of the old Kristófer.

The director masterfully weaves places and situations together. A door in the past opens, the next moment you find yourself in a room with the senior in the present. Kormákur also uses music to transition from one time to another. Composer Högni Egilsson read the script, visited the film set and then wrote the film’s soundtrack. And so it seems as if you are part of the old Kristófer’s stream of consciousness.

For actor and singer Egill Ólafsson, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, it is his last project as an actor, which gives the film a particularly personal touch. Ólafsson’s mother divorced his father in his late years in order to find her first love again. They spent the last years of their lives together. »Touch« refuses a classic happy ending like this, but follows two people between two continents who fall in love, lose each other and yet have never forgotten what once was.

In Kormákur’s son Pálmi, the team found the young Kristófer, who radiates gentleness and modesty even at a young age. Pálmi had little acting experience; Model and songwriter Kōki, who portrays Miko, made her horror film debut in 2022.

The director cast another role based on his feelings. When casting director Yoko Narahashi read a scene, he gave her a significant role in “Touch.” “I cast with my heart and my instinct,” Kormákur once said in an interview. You can feel this love from the beginning.

»Touch«, Island 2023. Regie: Baltasar Kormákur. Drehbuch: Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Baltasar Kormákur. With: Egill Ólafsson, Pálmi Kormákur, Kōki, Masahiro Motoki. 121 min. Start: 8.8.

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