Touch (2024) is an emotionally resonant romantic drama directed by Baltasar Kormákur, based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson's 2022 novel. The film explores themes of lost love, memory, and the passage of time, unfolding across two timelines and multiple countries.
In the late 1960s, Kristófer, a young Icelandic man studying at the London School of Economics, becomes disillusioned with academia and impulsively applies for a job at Nippon, a Japanese restaurant owned by Chef Takahashi. There, he meets Miko, Takahashi's daughter, and they fall in love. However, their budding relationship is abruptly ended when Takahashi discovers Miko is pregnant with Kristófer's child and forces her to return to Japan, where she gives the baby up for adoption.
Decades later, in 2020, Kristófer, now a widower with failing memory, decides to find Miko before it's too late. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he travels from Iceland to London and then to Japan, where he learns that Miko has been living a quiet life, never marrying again. Together, they visit their son, Akira, now a successful chef in Japan, unaware of his biological parents' identities. The film concludes with Kristófer and Miko walking hand in hand, reflecting on their lost time and enduring connection.
- IMDB Rating - 7.4/10
- Director - Baltasar Kormákur
- Writers - Olaf Olafsson, Baltasar Kormákur
- Stars - Egill Ólafsson, Kôki, Palmi Kormákur
