Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson) is a widower in his seventies. He owns a small restaurant in Iceland, sings in a choir, talks on the phone with his daughter and mostly feels sad. When he visits his doctor to learn the results of testing, the doctor delicately explains that Kristófer is experiencing the early stages of dementia, and it might be a good idea to tie up any loose ends in his life. For Kristófer, there is no doubt which loose end he wants to pursue before it is too late. Fifty years earlier he was in love with a woman who loved him, but suddenly, along with her father, she disappeared without warning.
Touch (Snerting) is directed by Baltasar Kormákur. It is based on a novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kormákur. I am a fan of films (and novels) that try to solve a long-lost mystery. Touch is a wonderful example.
It is March 2020, and Covid-19 lockdowns are on the horizon. This is a second reason why Kristófer has to act quickly, although he does so in an appealingly unrushed manner.
The story goes back to London in 1969. Young Kristófer, played by the director’s son, Palmi Kormákur, is a radical student at the London School of Economics. His friends taunt him that if he is such a supporter of members of the working class, he should become one. This strikes him as a good idea. He stops going to university and walks into the first shop he sees with a Help Wanted sign. It turns out to be a Japanese restaurant called Nippon. Not surprisingly, the owner, Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki), finds it bizarre that an Icelander would want to work in a Japanese restaurant, but he takes a liking to Kristófer and hires him to be a dishwasher.
Kristófer and Miko consummate their love, which is really a tender one. And then Miko disappears.
Back to present day, old Kristófer flies to London, where Covid restrictions are setting in. He visits the site of Nippon and learns that it has been turned into a tattoo parlor. Undeterred, he gets a tattoo. He meets with an old friend who asks Kristófer if he is still a communist, “I was more of an anarchist. Now I’m just old.” Eventually, Kristófer’s sleuthing pays off. He tracks down a former employee of Nippon and obtains an old address for Miko in Tokyo. It’s still a longshot, but Kristófer flies to Japan anyway.
Act three of Touch is moving. Without giving away what happens, I’ll just say that I was satisfied.
This is the fifth time that one of Baltasar Kormákur’s films has been chosen as the Icelandic entry in the Academy Awards. In 2012, his film The Deep was shortlisted
