Movie Review: ‘Touch’

His doctor is concerned with the results of a recent examination. He wants to perform one more test – a scan of his head. The patient, Kristófer (Egill Ôlafsson), knows his body – especially his brain – is slowly failing. Kristófer agrees to the additional test.

Before leaving the examining room, his physician reminds him that persons in his situation should take care of any unfinished business while they still can. Driving through the bleak Icelandic landscape on his way home, Kristófer stops at his shuttered restaurant to retrieve a box that’s been tucked away for years. The box contains reminders from his past.

Sorting through the contents of the box, he is painfully reminded of his one true love, the person who mysteriously disappeared from his life over 50 years ago. Finding her is the sole piece of business he feels he must take care of “while he still can.”

In his youth he left Iceland to study in London and became involved in various student movements. After participating in one such protest, he and his classmates pause at the door to a Japanese restaurant to discuss their recent event. Kristófer says he doesn’t want to continue his education; he’d rather do something else – anything.

Noticing a help wanted sign on the door of the restaurant, he claims, “I’d rather scrub dishes than attend classes.” He enters the restaurant and applies for a job and is hired.

He doesn’t speak or read Japanese but decides to learn. A nearby book shop provides him with some language materials to study. The other workers at the restaurant find it amusing to work alongside a white person. One in particular finds it more than amusing – the owner’s daughter. Their attraction is mutual. The two move from flirting in the kitchen to secret rendezvous in the garden and finally spontaneous secret sexual encounters. Things are running smoothly, the restaurant is busy, Kristófer is speaking and writing a little Japanese and he and the owner’s daughter finally declare their love for one another.

It all comes crashing down one day as Kristófer arrives for work. The restaurant is empty and the owner and his family have disappeared.

Kristófer receives a call from his daughter reminding him to visit his doctor to review the results from his MRI. He tells her he can’t make the appointment as he is on his way to London. Once there he visits the site of the restaurant, which is now a tattoo parlor. He enters the shop and has a tattoo of a Japanese character inked on his shoulder. He wanders familiar neighborhoods seeking information about the family he once worked for.

Another frantic call from his daughter reminds him it’s vital that he contact his doctor for news of his condition. Again, he tells her that’s not possible because he is in Japan, on his way to Hiroshima – the home of his former employer and the love of his life. With his little language skills he finally finds someone who knows where she lives – the top floor of an apartment building in a nice neighborhood. On his way to her home, he purchases a large bouquet of pink roses. There is no response to his ringing the doorbell to her apartment.

Directed by Baltaser Kormákur (Credits: Beast, Katla), “Touch” runs 121 minutes and is a “should see” for a touching love story sensitively told, set in Iceland, Great Britain and Japan. An unexpected conclusion.