Touch

Synopsis
An ageing widower, Kristófer, finds himself at a crossroads at the outbreak of the pandemic. He shuts his restaurant in Iceland – not just because of the pandemic but also because he knows his health is declining. Urged by his doctor to attend to any unfinished business he might have, he spontaneously embarks on a journey to seek answers to a mystery that has haunted him for a long time.

Fifty years earlier, while Kristófer was a student in London, his Japanese girlfriend, Miko, vanished without a trace along with her dad. The couple had been working at her father's restaurant, Nippon. Kristófer turned up for work one day and was surprised to find the place empty and shut down. Nobody seemed to know what had become of the father and daughter. Kristófer was devastated. He and Miko had been head over heels in love during the vibrant summer of 1969, when young people rebelled against the structures of Western society, full of hope and with aspirations of their own.

We follow Kristófer on a journey back to London and then to Japan, where he hopes to find answers to what actually happened. But it is also his journey down memory lane, which takes us back 50 years to when young Kristófer and Miko had their passionate affair.

Jury motivation
In this romantic drama, director Baltasar Kormákur tells a story, where the main character’s search for long-lost love ends up taking him on an emotional voyage back to a pivotal period in his life and physically halfway across the world.

Through precise use of production design, strong visual elements and beautiful camerawork, the director succeeds in recreating 1960s London in a convincing way as well as contemporary Iceland and Japan. The subtle score effectively and sensitively supports the excellent performances of the actors and helps the narrative as it slowly reveals the strength of young love and how fear, created by past horror threatens the fragile beginning of a blossoming relationship.

Although telling a tragic story of human experience, Baltasar Kormákur manages to leave the audience with a sense of hope and, yes, touched.