Touch (2024 film)

For other films, see Touch (disambiguation).

Touch (Icelandic: Snerting) is a 2024 romantic drama film directed by Baltasar Kormákur, written by Baltasar and Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, and produced by Baltasar, Agnes Johansen, and Mike Goodridge. The film is based on Ólafur's 2022 novel of the same name. It stars Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, and Palmi Kormakur.

Touch
Icelandic theatrical release poster
Directed by	Baltasar Kormákur
Screenplay by	Baltasar Kormákur Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson
Based on	Touch by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson
Produced by	Baltasar Kormákur Agnes Johansen Mike Goodridge
Starring	Egill Ólafsson Kōki Palmi Kormakur
Cinematography	Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson
Edited by	Sigurður Eyþórsson
Music by	Högni Egilsson
Production companies	RVK Studios Good Chaos
Distributed by	Focus Features (United States) Universal Pictures (International)
Release dates	May 29, 2024 (2024-05-29) (Iceland) July 12, 2024 (2024-07-12) (United States)
Countries	Iceland United States United Kingdom
Languages	Icelandic Japanese English

Touch was first released in Iceland on May 29, 2024, and was released in the United States on July 12, 2024.

Plot

Note: The movie’s plot is told through flashback segments interspersed with present time. This summary presents the story linearly.

In the late 1960s, Kristófer is a young Icelander man studying at London School of Economics, but his leftwing belief put him at odds with the school administration. After being mocked by his college friends for saying he would drop out, Kristófer impulsively applies to be a dishwasher at Nippon, a Japanese restaurant owned by chef Takahashi. Here he meets and falls in love with Miko, Takahashi’s daughter.

Kristófer learns Japanese and works hard at Nippon, which earns him the trust of Takahashi, Miko, and the restaurant staff. During this time, he witnesses Takahashi forcibly break up Miko and her boyfriend. Takahashi trains Kristófer as a chef and let him come in early to practice. As Miko visits Kristófer to taste his cookings, they grow closer and start a relationship, unbeknownst to Takahashi. Miko confides in Kristófer that her family was originally from Hiroshima, and her mother was pregnant with her at the time of the bombing. They faced discrimination back home as 'Hibakusha', and migrated to England as a result.

Upon coming back from a holiday, Kristófer is shocked to see that the restaurant has been closed, and the Takahashis have moved away without saying a word, saving for one final paycheck addressed to him.

50 years later, Kristófer is now a widower living alone in Iceland. His memory is failing, and his doctor suggests that he should resolve any unfinished business while he still has time. Kristófer closes his restaurant and sets out to find Miko just when the Covid pandemic is griping the world, despite constant concerns from his stepdaughter.

Arriving in London in the midst of pandemic restrictions, Kristófer finds Takahashi’s restaurant is now a tattoo parlor. He manages to locate Hitomi, a co-worker at Nippon. She tells him that Takahashi and Miko moved back to Japan 50 years ago, and Takahashi has passed away. She gives Kristófer Miko’s last known address.

Kristófer visits Miko’s apartment in Japan. After a moment of hesitation, the two embrace, not having seen each other for over half a century. Miko reveals the reason for her sudden departure. Her father always feared that her children would have birth defects from radiation exposure, so he forbade her from having relationships altogether. When he discovered Miko was pregnant with Kristófer’s child, he moved her back to Japan, and later forced her to give the child up for adoption. Miko has remained unmarried since with no other children.

Miko then tells Kristófer their son, Akira, was born healthy and happily adopted, and now a chef with his own restaurant and family. She takes him to Akira’s restaurant, where she is a regular customer. Kristófer is overcome with emotion upon seeing his son for the first time, though Akira remains unaware of his biological parents.

The film ends with Kristófer and Miko walking down the street hand in hand. As the screen fades to black, he softly sings to her the Icelandic song he sang years ago in a party at Nippon.

Cast

• Egill Ólafsson as Kristófer
• Kōki as Young Miko
• Palmi Kormakur as Young Kristófer
• Masahiro Motoki as Takahashi-san
• Sigurdur Ingvarsson as Jónas
• Yoko Narahashi as Miko
• Masatoshi Nakamura as Kutaragi-san
• Meg Kubota as Hitomi
• María Ellingsen as Inga
• Eiji Mihara as Dr. Kobayashi
• Theódór Júlíusson
• Starkadur Petursson as Markús
• Ruth Sheen as Mrs. Ellis
• Benedikt Erlingsson as Dr. Stefánsson
• Tatsuya Tagawa as Arai-San
• Charles Nishikawa as Goto-San

Production

Touch was produced by RVK Studios. Principal photography began on October 9, 2022, in London. In a December 2022 interview, Baltasar Kormákur planned to shoot the film in Iceland and Japan.

Release

Touch was first released in Iceland on May 29, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release on July 12, 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 45 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Tracing through the passage of time with a light touch, director Baltasar Kormákur's moving drama is a wistful reverie on life itself." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

External links

• Touch at IMDb