Touch (2024) – Review

In the adaptation of Olaf Olafsson’s hit book, “Touch,” we witness a tear-inducing story of an old man trying to reunite with the woman who got away decades prior.

Plot Summary

In his old age, Kristofer is starting to deal with the effects of aging, and while he still has his wits, he decides to find his long-lost love, Miko, with the time he has left. It has been decades since they saw each other in London, but with only an adopted daughter and the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak to slow him down, Kristofer travels the world to find the woman to whom he gave his heart in his 20s.

Noted Cast and Characters Of “Touch”

Character’s Name	Actor’s Name
Older Kristofer	Egill Ólafsson
Younger Kristofer	Palmi Kormákur
Older Miko	Yôko Narahashi
Younger Miko	Kôki
Takahashi	Masahiro Motoki

Kristofer

At one time, Kristofer was a rebel. He tried the expected, traditional route of college, but dealing with an administration that was immoral in his eyes led to him quitting school. Thankfully, he soon arrives at a Japanese restaurant looking for a dishwasher named Nippon. There, he finds his passion for cooking, as well as for the owner’s daughter.

Miko

Miko is the daughter of Takahashi, who owns Nippon and doesn’t aspire to inherit her father’s shop but instead tries to enjoy her studies and work with children later in life.

Takahashi

Takahashi is a widow from Japan who left his country behind after the bombing of Hiroshima for a fresh start in London.

Content Information

• Dialog: Cursing
• Violence: N/A
• Sexual Content: Sexual Situations (Implied)
• Miscellaneous: Drinking, Smoking

Review

Our Rating: Positive (Worth Seeing)

Who Is This For?

• Fans of time-spanning romances

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Highlights

The Older and Younger Versions Compliment Each Other

Whenever a movie time jumps between two different periods of a character’s life, it presents a challenge. How do you keep viewers interested in both the younger counterpart, who is working on the foundation for the character, and the older version, who shows the long-term effects of the younger version’s work? “Touch” does this by making them compliment each other.

Why should you invest in Kristofer, as an older man searching for this woman? Because of the love story you see with the younger counterparts. It helps you understand why he travels 1000s of miles by plane to multiple countries at the start of the pandemic. It’s all in the hopes that, once again, he can see the woman who was his true love.

The Ending May Make You Cry

I’m going to sidestep the specifics, but I will say the ending will make you cry as certain information is revealed. It may not make you cry to the point of questioning if you drink enough water, but for those who like movies similar to this, tears will likely fall from both eyes.

How It Brings Miko and Her Father’s Culture Into The Story

It could be very easy to imagine, despite Miko’s father, Takahashi, being Japanese and Kristofer and Miko working in his Japanese restaurant, that we’d get the aesthetics but not a sense of culture. That isn’t how “Touch” operates. Japanese is spoken throughout, while Takahashi is skittish about talking about the past; Miko shows artwork from her mother and talks about their lives in Hiroshima and how the culture shifted after the bombs dropped.

I’d even say, as an American, this was probably one of the few movies I’ve ever saw in theaters that didn’t justify the bombing but instead focused on the civilians who suffered. Heck, a part of me almost sees Kristofer as a Trojan Horse to tell Miko’s story and that of Japanese people.

On The Fence

Any Curiosity About Kristofer’s Life Outside Of Miko Won’t Be Satiated

Kristofer’s life doesn’t end and begin with Miko, but it is the focus of “Touch.” However, it does skirt around other parts of his life as well. We learn he was married for decades, and while the marriage may not have lit a fire in him, like his relationship with Miko, it does exist. However, we see his wife maybe in a handful of scenes and don’t learn much about her, how Kristofer met her, or what led to them getting married.

Heck, he even has a stepdaughter who calls him “Dad,” yet we don’t see her face; we just hear her voice. And honestly, at times, it seems he is annoyed by her existence as if she is part of his settlement deal with life, and he longs to figure out a way to break that contract.

General Information

Film Length	2 Hours 1 Minute
Date Released	July 12, 2024
How To Watch	Official Site
Distributor	Focus Features
Director(s)	Baltasar Kormákur
Writer(s)	Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson
Based On Work By	Olaf Olafsson
Genre(s)	Adventure, Romance, Young Adult, Elder, Non-English (Japanese), Non-English (Icelandic), Historical
Content Rating	Rated R