touch movie review 2012

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• <i>Touch</i> Is a Moving Romance Built Around the Search for a Long-Lost Love

Touch  Is a Moving Romance Built Around the Search for a Long-Lost Love

W e make space in our brains for lots of things these days: Instagram influencers and TikTok stars, series binge-watching, obsessive attention to the news cycle. Sometimes, in that endless reshuffling of attention-grabbers, we lose sight of essential pleasures that have served humankind ably for centuries. When we look at the movie landscape, in particular, almost nobody sighs and says, “I wish we had more romantic melodramas ,” because we’ve nearly forgotten they’re even a genre. With Touch —adapted from the novel by Olaf Olafsson—Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur gives us the thing we didn’t know we wanted: a cross-cultural romance that spans decades, built around one man’s search for a long-lost love . This is a movie of gentle but resonant pleasures; it slows the world down, a little, for the span of time you’re watching it. And couldn’t we all use a little of that these days?

Veteran Icelandic actor Egill Ólafsson plays Kristofer, an older man who’s had what could reasonably be called a happy life: He's the owner of a seemingly successful seaside restaurant. His wife is now deceased, and there’s every indication that theirs was a good marriage. He has a stepdaughter who calls frequently to check up on him. But he’s recognizing that his time is limited, and there’s something he’s got to do. So he leaves his home in Iceland and travels first to London and then to Japan, in search of the woman—or at least news of the woman—who slipped out of his life many years earlier.

We see episodes from Kristofer’s past as he reflects on it: The younger Kristofer is played by Palmi Kormákur (the director’s son), an earnest beanpole of a kid who’s studying economics in 1970s London. He and his friends enjoy theoretical conversations about economic injustice; impulsively, Kristofer decides to quit school and join the proletariat. He charmingly if tentatively talks his way into a job washing dishes at a Japanese restaurant—the owner, Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki), takes a liking to him. Before long, Kristofer meets Takahashi-san's bright, intriguing daughter, Miko (Kôki); he’s a goner even before she surveys his face and tells him that he reminds her of John Lennon. It takes a while for their romance to bloom—Miko already has a suitor, and other complications are gradually revealed—but once it does, there seems to be no separating them. Or so Kristofer believes, until one day Miko disappears.

Read more: The 100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades

In old age, with nothing left to lose, Kristofer sets out to find Miko; the trail goes cold more than once. But there’s more to this story than the search for a lost love—because those stories are almost always mostly about the person who’s doing the searching. Touch is also about all that Kristofer doesn’t know about Miko and her father, circumstances that aren’t so much conventional secrets as bits of sorrowful history embedded in DNA. This is a love story where the ghosts of Hiroshima bear witness. Kristofer learns truths as an old man that he might not have been able to comprehend fully as a young one. Touch is about learning the necessary things at the right time—and sometimes even the last minute is the right time.

Yet this is in no way a jarring picture, or one that seeks to punish us with harsh truths. Maybe, more broadly, it’s a story about how we’re all required to live in our own time—memory offers only the briefest escape. As a director, Kormákur has made the loudest noise—in the United States, at least—as a director of action or adventure films, among them Contraband (2012), 2 Guns (2013), Everest (2015), and Beast (2022). But he’s just as skillful, and maybe even better, at this kind of filmmaking. He knows how to make the most of each setting. Iceland looks so mournfully beautiful you feel a little sad when Kristofer leaves it, but the London of the 1970s (and of the present day) holds just as much allure: Kristofer discovers that Takahashi-san’s restaurant is now a tattoo parlor, but he embraces its new identity rather than treating it as a sacrilegious invasion.

Kormákur and his cinematographer Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson give a sense of the way, if we’re aware enough, glimmers of the past can permeate the present, as if shining through a translucent overlay. The mood of the film is wistful, a little sad, but ultimately quietly galvanizing, thanks in large part to the actors: Palmi Kormákur plays the young Kristofer as guileless but not clueless, feeling his way along as young people do. As the older Kristofer, Ólafsson recaptures some of that uncertainty: he’s an old man in surroundings that are no longer familiar, but he also realizes he has the chance to pick up the pieces of a mystery he’s lived with his entire life.

And as the older version of Miko, Yoko Narahashi has a kind of buoyant gravitas—as if the burdens she’s had to live with are lightened by the privilege and pleasure of just being able to breathe the air each day. Narahashi was also Kormákur’s casting director on the film. As she was reading lines with various performers, he realized that she was the only one for the role. Touch is the kind of movie you get when a filmmaker thinks like that, on his feet and with his heart—and in so doing, he makes us believe we can, too.

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‘Touch’ Review: An Old-School Tear-Jerker, With a Twist

An Icelandic widower revisits London, the site of his first romance, in this film from Baltasar Kormakur.

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By Beatrice Loayza

“Touch,” a globe-trotting romance from Iceland, is an epic, old-fashioned weepie in the vein of “Atonement” and “The Notebook” — it’s mushy and ridiculous, then, suddenly, you’re in the throes of an ugly cry.

Based on the novel by Olafur Johann Olafsson, the film straddles two timelines — 2020, at the very outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Swinging Sixties London — and plays out, at first, like a mystery. Kristofer (Egill Olafsson), an ex-restaurateur and widower, is diagnosed with dementia and spurred into action before the disease might incapacitate him: He books a flight from Reykjavik to London, unfazed by the imminent lockdown. He’s the only guest at his London hotel, his flights are near-empty, and his anxious daughter keeps calling, urging him to get back home.

As Kristofer revisits his old stamping grounds — he was a student in London — the source of his longing becomes clear. In the earlier timeline, a young Kristofer (Palmi Kormakur), a devoted leftist, abandons his studies and takes a dishwashing job at a Japanese restaurant. The rest of the staff is Japanese, but the restaurant owner, Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki), takes a liking to this Icelandic gentle giant, whose passion for Japanese culture is convincing. (Plus, there’s a humorous parallel between Iceland and Japan — the love of fish!) The trope of the white guy with an Asian fetish certainly comes to mind, but Kormakur’s soft-spoken charisma wards off this pigeonholing, creating space for the Japanese characters to become three-dimensional as they tease Kristofer out of his shell.

Then there’s the girl: Miko (Koki), Takahashi-san’s daughter, with whom Kristofer is smitten. The film tracks the twists and turns of their friendship, which unfold tragically when Miko’s origins — she’s a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing — come to light.

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur, the father of Palmi, a veteran filmmaker with big-budget Hollywood credits (“Beast,” “Adrift,” “2 Guns”), “Touch” rekindles a treacly genre that I didn’t realize I missed. Its tender performances and gut-punch reveals are classic tear-jerker ingredients. Add to this a natural, inordinately sensitive approach to intercultural love — mercifully, without a sense of righteousness or obligation.

Touch Rated R for sex, references to abortion and images of atomic bomb casualties. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute. In theaters.

“ Touch ,” from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur , is vast in scope, stretching over decades, languages, continents, and cultures, with themes of memory, aging, loss, and love. But its sensibility is as exquisitely tender as the flutter of a butterfly wing. 

Kristófer ( Egill Ólafsson ) is an elderly widower and restaurant owner in Iceland who visits his doctor to talk about some diminishing of his memory and fine motor skills. The doctor orders an MRI and gently suggests that this might be a time for Kristófer to consider any unfinished business or any unresolved issues he may wish to address while he still can. This brings on a flood of memories of Kristófer’s first love when he dropped out of graduate school in London and went to work in a Japanese restaurant. He decides to go to London to see if he can find her 60 years later. This is all happening in March of 2020 when the world is shutting down in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and his daughter makes increasingly worried and frustrated phone calls, but Kristófer does not have time to wait.

As he travels and investigates, we travel back and forth in time between the present and the past to see the young Kristófer (Palmi Kormákur) and Miko ( Yôko Narahashi ) in 1960s London. Cinematographer Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson captures these memories in soft, warm colors that contrast with the cooler palette of the present day. 

Kristófer, frustrated with his studies and participation in student protests, impulsively responds to a help-wanted sign on the door of a Japanese restaurant owned by Takahashi-san ( Masahiro Motoki ). That is where he first sees Miko, Takahashi-san’s daughter. After a conversation about Kristófer’s work on a fishing boat off the coast of Iceland, Takahashi-san hires him as a dishwasher. Luscious food, prepared with care and artistry, appears throughout the story, and a meal that Kristófer prepares for Miko is as dreamily romantic and thrillingly sensual as the scenes of them in bed together. 

The young couple talk about John Lennon and Yoko Ono holding a Vietnam War protest “bed-in,” which places it in 1969. Kristófer talks about it as a political act, staging a protest in a five-star hotel. But Miko sees it as opening up possibilities for cross-cultural romance in an era when the memory of WII was still very present for all countries involved. When Kristófer’s school friends come to the Japanese restaurant, they joke about kamikazes. And Miko has a tragic personal connection to the devastation of the war.

In present-day London , Kristófer is able to track down one of the other employees of the restaurant, who tells him that Miko is now in Japan. As masks, hand sanitizers, canceled flights, and temperature checks appear around him, and as we learn more about the past, Kristófer continues to look with a sense of purpose but also with an appreciation of the world around him. In one scene, a Japanese “salary man” (office worker) sits next to him at a restaurant counter. They have a frank, alcohol-fueled conversation filled with warmth and good fellowship and end up doing karaoke together. 

Kristófer buys a pair of shoes. When he finds that a tattoo parlor is in the space the Japanese restaurant once occupied, he gets a tattoo of a Japanese character. Like its main character, this movie is willing to meander a bit, with welcome breathing room that adds to the gentle, quiet tone. Some movies would make this a race, with Kristófer facing dire medical test results and lockdowns everywhere. But “Touch” is as delicate as its title suggests, its tone and lush visuals perfectly suited to the kind of first love that is utterly captivating to the young and then, no matter how many years go by, imperishably vital. 

Kormákur (son of the director) and Ólafsson do not quite look like versions of the same person, but what we see is Kristófer’s memories, and he might very well want to think of his younger self as tall and beautiful. Kormákur’s soulful eyes and graceful use of his lanky body tell us as much about his character’s thoughtful sincerity as his immersion in Japanese language and culture. His scenes with the lovely Narahashi have a poignant warmth. Despite their strong chemistry, we see inevitable problems long before Kristófer does. 

Kristófer is not trying to reclaim his youth, get an apology or even an explanation. He just wants to see Miko again. There’s no other goal, no agenda. As he tells someone from his past who asks if he is still a communist, “I was more of an anarchist. Now I’m just old.” The film’s embrace of compassion and forgiveness for everyone is heartwarmingly spacious. It shimmers with grace.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

• Egill Ólafsson as Kristófer
• Yôko Narahashi as Miko
• Masahiro Motoki as Takahashi-san
• Ruth Sheen as Mrs. Ellis
• Tatsuya Tagawa as Arai-san
• Baltasar Kormákur
• Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson

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The Big Picture

• Touch explores themes of love, loss, and redemption through a poignant journey of discovery.
• The film weaves the past and present together beautifully, building emotional weight through nostalgic explorations.
• Touch develops a strong sense of place and time, with moving reveals and performances leading to a largely satisfying finale.

Confronting one's own mortality is an inevitable part of life, of course, but that never makes it easier. It's a natural time to reflect on opportunities and regrets, missteps, and roads not taken. These questions are complex ones to square, some of life's biggest, but after them comes the hardest question still: what is there to do about it? In Touch , the beautiful new film by Baltasar Kormákur , an elderly widower's brush with mortality sparks a journey to uncover perhaps the greatest mystery of his life: what happened to his lost first love, who disappeared without a trace 50 years prior? It's a query that provokes a globe-spanning trek across both the world and the deep seas of memory.

Touch , adapted by Kormákur and Icelandic author Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson from the latter's own book, is a meditative exploration of love, loss, nostalgia, and rediscovery that beautifully blends past and present, weaving them together for an emotional trek across time. While the journey in the present is what drives the narrative, it's the nostalgic explorations of the past that carry much of the film's emotional weight . Kormákur builds a vibrant world, capturing the restrained fury of young love with as much delicacy as he does the gentle exploration of new talents and the dispiriting claustrophobia of navigating strict rules and family traumas. It's a poignant, transporting tale.

"Touch" follows the journey of Kristófer, a widower who sets out to find his first love, Mako, who mysteriously disappeared 50 years ago. The film spans several decades and continents, delving into themes of love, loss, and redemption.

What Is 'Touch' About?

Touch follows Kristófer ( Egill Ólafsson ), an aging, solitary cook in a small seaside town in Iceland. Some time after the death of his wife, he's merely flitting the time away: talking to his daughter Sonja ( Harpa Elísa Þórsdóttir ), singing in a choir, serving his customers, and coming home to a quiet, empty house. He visits a doctor about worrisome lapses in memory, and an MRI reveals a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's. The doctor informs Kristófer that, in cases like this, he normally recommends patients get their lives in order and resolve any unfinished business. A simple man with a simple life, there's only one item left to address: a half-century ago, his first love Miko ( Kōki) disappeared suddenly and without a trace. With his remaining time ticking away, Kristófer drops everything to head back to where they first met and beyond in hopes of squaring the past before it finally is too late. The film alternates between his present-day journey and recollections of courting Miko as a young man (his youthful self played by Palmi Kormakur) , tracing the emergence of their meeting and growing relationship until a pivotal moment separates them for decades.

Dealing with lost love, mortality, and a sense of nostalgia for the past are, of course, classic themes in world literature and cinema alike. Here, Touch isn't entirely novel from a thematic standpoint (in all fairness, it would be hard-pressed to find entirely new approaches to these central parts of the human experience), but it is introspective and insightful. In pivoting around the desire to find answers to the mystery of a lost love, rather than to simply reflect on it, Touch does nonetheless find an interesting way for the audience to see these themes with somewhat clearer eyes. The journey may be on a well-trod path to a familiar destination, but the view is worth the effort, especially in light of a set of memorable performances.

'Touch' Is a Poignant Exploration of Mortal Clarity and the Enduring Power of Love

While the elder Kristófer sparks the narrative's journey, it's his younger self's story that gives life to the film's emotional core . We first meet him as a young radical and student in London, whose disaffection with a life of study prompts a spontaneous visit to a local Japanese restaurant in search of working-class employment. First, it's a little insincere: he's proving a point to both his classmates and, a bit, to himself. The job inquiry gets serious once Kristófer catches a fleeting glimpse of Miko, the vibrant daughter of the restaurant's owner, Takahashi-san ( Masahiro Motoki ). It's a little atypical for a Japanese restaurant in that era's London to have a Nordic dishwasher, but the thoughtful, observant, and eager learner Kristófer increasingly wins the good-natured Takahashi-san over. Miko is a high-spirited soul, who clearly leans more towards the modern London of her era than she does to the Japanese culture her family left behind, causing considerable (but loving) tension between father and daughter. In these moments, Kormákur captures well the aura of the London of yore, alongside the deliberate pace and simple sensual pleasures of the restaurant . It's a prime setting for growing youthful romance.

Palmi Kormakur plays young Kristófer with an intelligent, quiet vigor . He's passionate, good-natured, and slightly unmoored, so it's understandable that the young man is so susceptible to the call of young love. There are clear echoes of his youthful self in Egill Ólafsson's portrayal of present-day Kristófer, slowed by age but retaining his inquisitive, observant nature and thoughtfulness. Kōki is a mystery as the young Miko: passionate but not wild, intelligent and presumably studious but with a lust for life. As the young lovers' romance blossoms, they fall together so naturally that the audience intuitively feels Kristófer's shock when Miko and Takahashi-san suddenly leave London, leaving no clues as to their destination. The cast here contributes to the impact of the separation, giving a solidity to the elder Kristófer's drive to see his questions answered, no matter what it takes. Touch is at least as much about the journey as it is the destination, so there won't be spoilers about the exact resolution. Suffice it to say that once the elder Kristófer makes discoveries as to what happened in that fateful era and why, the complexity and weight of life for Japanese expats in that era comes to the fore in heartbreaking ways, and Kormákur ably lands them while building to a mostly satisfying and emotional conclusion.

‘Adrift’ Director Baltasar Kormakur on Why He Used Non-Linear Storytelling

Plus, he reveals what he was willing to do to get cinematographer Robert Richardson and what he learned from test screenings.

Touch weaves between timelines well , with flowing explorations of the past folded in with interludes of the present, each driving different aspects of the narrative forward. As a narrative, the film's biggest issue emerges in the film's finale, as Kristófer's journey reaches its end. What he discovers is emotional and satisfying, but after such a long and carefully paced journey, many revelations and monumental events are packed into what feels like a short amount of narrative time. It's not quite rushed, but the film does noticeably hasten exactly when that leisurely pacing is needed most. It's still a satisfying ending, and one that's well set up, but it dampens the emotional impact of important moments that the film spends a lot of time building towards. Additionally, elder Kristófer exhibits a sort of distance from his daughter throughout the film that sits uneasily by some of the film's themes, and it would be useful to allow a little clarity around that singular plot point. These are relevant but small criticisms, however, in light of a film that capably explores issues like mortality, love, and longing, and does so with intelligence.

'Touch' Is a Thoughtful, Frequently Moving Trek

Dealing with the nostalgia of past loves has inspired a wide array of excellent stories, most recently Celine Song 's wonderful exploration of unmet romantic potential in Past Lives . There are inevitable comparisons to be made between Touch and the latter, but the narrative journeys and imports are wildly different between the two films. The elder Kristófer's hopeful pursuit of, at the very least, some sort of end-of-life closure is well-balanced against the youthful passions and hopes of his younger self. Here, the differences between the two provide a thoughtful but not mournful opportunity to reflect on the inevitability of time and the often fleeting, yet also somehow eternal experience of love. Through the development of an excellent sense of place, a set of strong performances, and its grounding in the recognition of mortality, Touch stands out as a singular journey worth taking .

Touch creates a beautiful, welcoming world that's enjoyable to get lost in . The careful, often serene moments in the restaurant are given plenty of space, while the young lovers' growing affections are backed by strong performances and a well-developed pace. The journey of the elder Kristófer is also enjoyable, as he navigates the experience in the present, often having unexpected live-in-the-moment experiences along the way. Still, the film's methodical pace somewhat falters when it's most important not to. Major reveals are passed through too quickly, and there are missed opportunities to tease out the emotional implications of the journey's finale. It doesn't land in an unsatisfying way, but it's difficult not to be left with a few lingering questions and a feeling that something important hasn't been given full resolution.

Still, Touch is easily a journey worth taking . It has a strong sense of place and performers with real chemistry and emotional resonance, and it finds ways to deal with time-honored, weighty themes in thoughtful ways. It may not be exploring wildly new ground, but the journey is a pleasant and notable one with a moving, largely satisfying finale (though it would benefit from more breathing room). It's a film that subtly reminds the audience to slow down, be present, and enjoy what one has, because it can be gone in an instant, while also encouraging hope. It's a beautiful cinematic journey and one not to be missed.

Touch is a poignant journey of discovery for a character facing life's end, with strong performances and a moving finale, though the careful pacing starts to falter at the end.

• Touch develops an excellent sense of place and time, especially in the main character's earlier experiences.
• Egill Olafsson has a grounded, nuanced outing as elder Kristofer, while Koki and Palmi Kormakur have strong chemistry and give passionate, layered performances.
• The film builds towards an ending with moving reveals as Kristofer's journey concludes, leaving an overall strong impression at the finale.
• Touch does lose some of its careful pacing at the finale, and could benefit from more thoughtful story development and narrative tempo as it concludes.

Touch is now playing in theaters in the U.S. Click below for showtimes near you.

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• Movie Reviews

• Baltasar Kormakur

‘Touch’ Review: A Search for a Lost Love Makes for A Heartrending Romantic Affair to Remember

Baltasar Kormakur directs the story of a widower with early-onset dementia who embarks on a cross-continental trip to find his soulmate during the pandemic in this weepie filled with humanity and hope.

By Courtney Howard

Courtney Howard

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The One Who Got Away is a romantic notion that’s been widely propagated by pop culture cinema. And for good reason, as heartfelt drama and compelling conflicts arise authentically from these confrontations with fate. Director-co-writer Baltasar Kormákur ’s “ Touch ,” based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s novel of the same name, expands on this swoon-worthy idea, elegantly crafting an achingly poignant story centered on an elderly man searching for his true love amidst a time of uncertainty. This gentle, unfussy romance contains a heart-clutching finale that’s as classically restrained as it is emotionally resounding.

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Kormákur and Ólafsson, who shares co-writing duties, make sure there’s never a dull, wasted moment. Though it lacks a stronger connection between the alternating timelines beyond narrative purpose, the non-linear storyline is never confusing. They instinctively allow tension to build steadily to its gripping 3 rd act climax, which holds profundity and provides tear-shedding catharsis. The feature moves at a brisk clip, even within quiet moments of respite when our hero is deep in thought, remembering the past that’s made him the pained man we see in the present. Not only do Miko and Kristofer’s romance and potential reunion provide the narrative motor, further depth is attained exploring the blossoming friendship between Kristofer and Takahashi-san in a time not conducive to cultural empathy. Supporting characters, like Nippon’s charming waitress Hitomi (Meg Kubota) and opera-singing chef Arai-san (Tatsuya Tagawa), are also given a rich and economical internality.

Kormákur and company conjure feelings of affection and anguish with gorgeous visual dexterity. He and cinematographer Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson maximize the atmospheric pull utilizing subtle modulations within the cool blue-toned and warm sepia-washed color palettes. Effused lighting illuminates Miko and Kristofer’s unspoken, intertwined yearnings. Occasional bubble-like lens flares from natural light pouring into rooms gift the shots with a fresh, buoyant luminosity. Production designer Sunneva Ása Weisshappel creates intimate environments for these characters to play in, from the bakery-turned-commercial-kitchen to the walls of adult Kristofer’s desolate home.

Thematic overtones are sonically represented in Högni Egilsson’s tender, moving score that properly enhances motivations and augments actors’ work. As the violin strings are softly plucked, so are our heartstrings. Ólafsson and his young counterpart Kormákur pull off the tough job marrying their physicality and mannerisms. They share a commanding presence, playing a soft-spoken, vulnerable man forced into an uncontrollable transition. Kôki is a dynamic performer, depicting her character with grace, compassion and resilience. She instills in Miko a fighting spirit and autonomous sense of self. Her chemistry with Kormákur sparks the fire necessary to make the love story truly transcendent.

Though never overt in its intentions, nor its inspirations, the picture reverberates on a similar tonal key to Leo McCarey films like “Make Way For Tomorrow” and “An Affair To Remember.” Not only does it feature the tribulations of someone in their twilight years, there’s also the element of two lovers torn apart by destiny. Ultimately, however, this is a uniquely powerful, humane film about people rebounding from the rubble of devastating losses, choosing courage and love to overcome grief. And there’s nothing more touching than seeing that in action.

Reviewed at Wilshire Screening Room, Los Angeles, June 12, 2024. Running time: 120 MIN. Rated R.

• Production: A Focus Features release of an RVK Studios production in association with Good Chaos. Producer: Agnes Johansen, Baltasar Kormákur, Mike Goodridge.
• Crew: Director: Baltasar Kormákur. Screenplay: Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Baltasar Kormákur (based on the novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson). Camera (color): Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson. Editor: Sigurður Eyþórsson. Music: Högni Egilsson.
• With: Egill Ólafsson, Pálmi Kormákur, Kôki, Masahiro Motoki, Meg Kubota, Tatsuya Tagawa.

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‘touch’ review: baltasar kormákur shifts gears with a delicate study of passion suspended by time and distance.

The Icelandic director’s latest is a novelistic saga of an elderly widower who sets out to solve the mystery of his first love’s sudden disappearance 50 years earlier.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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The spark of the story is the diagnosis in 2020 of Icelandic widower Kristofer (Egill Ólafsson) with early-stage dementia and the advice of his doctor that now is the time to tend to unfinished business. He closes his Rekyavik restaurant, mutters a quiet “Forgive me” to a framed photograph of his late wife, and flies to London, just as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions are ramping up.

In the British capital, Kristofer revisits places familiar from his time there as a young man (played by the director’s son, Pálmi Kormákur) at the tail end of the ‘60s. He was enrolled at London School of Economics during a period of student unrest; his radical ideas prompted him to reject an establishment education and take a job washing dishes at Nippon, a Japanese restaurant frequented almost exclusively by Japanese customers due to lingering postwar antipathy.

Miko is a self-possessed young woman under the watchful eye of a conservative father, but she’s also stepping out in Mary Quant minidresses, soaking up the freedoms of Swinging London. At first, she regards the lanky Icelander with amused detachment, but gradually his gentle manner coaxes her to reciprocate his tender feelings. They begin a clandestine relationship, both of them falling hard, and Kristofer learns that the family emigrated to England from Hiroshima. But without warning, he arrives for work one day to find Nippon closed and Takahashi and Miko both gone.

Cutting among the elderly Kristofer’s efforts in London to track down Nippon staffer Hitomi (Meg Kubota), memories of his wife (María Ellingsen) or his more recent doctor’s visit back in Rekyavik, and the younger Kristofer’s experiences, the movie’s shuffled timeline initially takes some adjustment. But it gradually finds a more fluid, undulating rhythm once Kristofer starts piecing together details from the past, pointing him to Japan .

The drama acquires urgency via the older Kristofer’s fears for his declining health, the concerned calls from his daughter, and the pandemic closing of hotels and international borders. Yet Kormákur also allows Kristofer’s journey the space to breathe, notably in an extended interlude where he strikes up a friendship in a Tokyo sake bar with another lonely widower (Masatoshi Nakamura).

The movie occasionally veers toward cliché, but its delicacy and restraint keep it dramatically compelling and its emotions are never unearned, right through to its lovely open-ended conclusion.

The principal actors favor understatement, which is complemented by the gentle strains of Högni Egilsson’s score. Ólafsson’s Kristofer is the movie’s soulful center, his stoic demeanor hiding a deep well of yearning, while the younger Kormákur and Japanese model-turned-actor Kōki make moving impressions as the twentysomething lovers.

Motoki (best known for 2009 international Oscar winner Departures ) is terrific at revealing the humanity and warmth under Takahashi-san’s very serious exterior, and it’s always a pleasure to see wonderful Mike Leigh regular Ruth Sheen, who turns up here as young Kristofer’s nosy London landlady.

Period detail from production designer Sunneva Ása Weisshappel and costumer Margrét Einarsdóttir is subtle but effective, echoed in a sprinkling of vintage tracks from Nick Drake, John Lennon, The Zombies and others. The drama’s scope is enhanced by Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson’s graceful cinematography across three countries. Touch is a minor-key movie but a consistently absorbing one. It’s rewarding to see accomplished director Kormákur working in a different vein.

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Tracing through the passage of time with a light touch, director Baltasar Kormákur's moving drama is a wistful reverie on life itself.

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A High-Profile Action Director Trades Bullets For Romance In His Newest Movie

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur made a handful of smaller films before bursting into mainstream Hollywood with the Mark Wahlberg action flick "Contraband"  in 2012. He's stayed steadily busy ever since, cranking out the Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg actioner "2 Guns" in 2013, the ensemble mountain climbing thriller "Everest" in 2015, the Shailene Woodley/Sam Claflin survival movie "Adrift" in 2018, and the "Idris Elba fights a lion" movie "Beast"  in 2022, plus directing a couple of television shows in between. As those credits indicate, Kormákur is primarily known to American audiences for his high-octane filmmaking style. His latest project, however, marks a significant change of pace.

"Touch," written by Kormákur and Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson (based on a novel by Ólafsson), tells the story of Kristófer, an elderly Icelander whose wife has passed away. Spurred on by some health issues of his own and sense that he's running out of time, Kristófer sets out to find a woman named Miko, his first love from 50 years earlier. Modern-day Kristófer's quest is intercut with flashbacks showing how the two met in London decades earlier and fell for each other, and the current storyline brings him closer and closer to potentially reuniting with her after all of these years. Will he actually find her? What drove them apart in the first place? And will they be able to reconcile their love?

I saw an early screening of "Touch" recently and was impressed by how well Kormákur adapted to this genre. This is a stripped down story — the type of moving, romantic drama aimed at adults that's become an endangered species over the past couple of decades. If the director wants to take a sudden shift in his preferred mode of filmmaking at this stage in his career, I would greatly welcome seeing him make more movies in this mold.

Touch is also a low-key food movie

As a fan of food-centric films like "Big Night," "Babette's Feast," and "The Taste of Things," I was delighted to realize how significant a role food plays in this film, too. "Touch" does not have enough cooking and mouth-watering food porn shots in it to be considered among the upper echelon of the all-time greatest food films , but it will definitely make you hungry in the best way. In flashbacks, we learn that Kristófer first met Miko when he dropped out of university to take a job at a Japanese restaurant, where Miko is the daughter of the immigrant owner. Many of the flashbacks track Kristófer's journey to learn the proper cooking methods necessary to make Japanese cuisine as their burgeoning relationship heats up.

"Touch" is not a light, frothy rom-com. The unspoken ticking clock element adds a layer of immediacy to the proceedings, and eventually, one especially serious subject arises that isn't often covered in mainstream Hollywood releases. There are no zany misunderstandings, wacky hijinks, or eye-rolling break-ups that you know will be resolved before the end credits roll. While I love those tropes when deployed well, Kormákur makes Kristófer and Miko's relationship feel heartbreakingly real, and he's aided tremendously by restrained, excellent performances from Egill Ólafsson (old Kristófer), Palmi Kormákur (young Kristófer), and Kôki (young Miko), a model-musician-turned-actress who I wouldn't be surprised to see cast in many more projects after her particularly effective work here.

Baltasar Kormákur, I owe you an apology. In the words of Shaquille O'Neal, I wasn't really familiar with your game. I assumed you'd spend the rest of your Hollywood career making mid-budget thrillers and somewhat generic action movies (not that there's anything wrong with that!), but after seeing what you did with "Touch," my expectations have been completely recalibrated. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go from here.

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10

"Touch" hits theaters on July 12, 2024.

Movies | ‘Touch’ review: A brief, youthful encounter,…

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Movies | ‘touch’ review: a brief, youthful encounter, rekindled 50 years later.

The story marries romance with mystery with carefully mapped skill. In Iceland, early in the pandemic, a widower, Kristófer, is living his comfortable but narrow existence in the village where he runs his restaurant. Plagued with memory loss, ducking his doctor’s entreaties to discuss his latest MRI, Kristofer has come uneasily to terms with some form of dementia clouding his very near future.

With time and lucidity running short, Kristófer embarks on a hunt for emotional treasure. Keeping his grown stepdaughter partly in the loop regarding his plans, he flies to London just as things approach COVID lockdown in search of his first love, Miko, the daughter of a Japanese restaurateur whom young, idealistic Kristófer met in the late 1960s.

The affair, more or less clandestine, ended suddenly back then, with Miko and her father disappearing into a chapter of their private family story unread by Kristófer. What happened? And why? “Touch” sustains steady if diagrammatic interest, toggling between the late ’60s flashbacks and the early 2020s, the latter charting Kristófer’s travels from London to Tokyo to Hiroshima in search of answers.

In the 2022 novel on which the movie is based, Miko first establishes contact with Kristófer. Adapted by director/co-writer Baltasar Kormákur and novelist and fellow Icelandic native Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, the film version uses a different, less specific point of narrative departure. The Japanese word kodokushi, translated as “lonely death” or the fear of dying alone, serves as a leitmotif here. Certainly Kristófer, played with serene authority by Egill Ólafsson, knows the weight of that word all too well. He makes it his mission to learn if Miko, if she’s still alive, feels the same weight.

The movie glides along, handsomely. Director Kormákur, best known in America for his action pictures “Contraband” (with Mark Wahlberg) and “2 Guns” (Wahlberg, Denzel Washington and Paula Patton), establishes a mood and rhythm of preordained heartbreak, depicted at a tactful remove. Much of the flashback footage takes place in Miko’s family restaurant in London, among the staff (Masahiro Motoki plays Miko’s widower father). In the ’60s scenes, young Kristófer is played by Palmi Kormákur, the director’s son. He captures the character’s oft-remarked on gentleness. Beyond that, though, he’s somewhat overmatched by his fellow actors, especially Kôki, who bringing a crystalline vibrancy to Miko’s turbulent struggles with her father, and her own desires.

I can’t quite put my finger on what’s missing in “Touch,” and why a well-carpentered, attractively realized film ends up feeling a little superficial. Maybe it’s the material’s hands-off approach to the elder version of Kristófer, whose symptoms of degeneration are barely visible. Maybe it’s the way the culminating scenes (no spoilers here) hit their emotional marks, dutifully, in ways that feel more dramatically tidy than authentically lifelike. Different as they are, we don’t read books or see movies like “The Notebook” or “Touch” for realistic touchstones; they’re romantic fantasies to the bone. I admire this film’s craft. And I would’ve appreciated a messier, inner-life impulse to go with it.

“Touch” — 2.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for some sexuality)

Running time: 2:00

How to watch: Premieres in theaters July 12. In Icelandic, Japanese and English with English subtitles.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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Touch review: a tender romantic drama that will thaw any heart.

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• Touch tenderly explores reconnection with the past, hope, and love through a beautifully moving story.
• The film effectively showcases the long-lasting effects of war on individuals and generations, filled with genuine emotion.
• Touch seamlessly moves between time periods, capturing the deep emotions and connections between characters.

Touch (2024) is about reconnection — with one’s past, with the more hopeful version of oneself, and with love. There’s a sense of regret wrapped into its story, but what the film does so wonderfully is reveal the long-lasting effects of war on a population, the repercussions of which are felt through generations. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur from a screenplay he co-wrote with Olaf Olaffson, Touch lovingly handles its subject matter and characters and reminds us that what was once lost can be found again.

The film’s story is told over decades. We follow Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson), at first in his older age, as he leaves Iceland for London, determined to find his long-lost love, Miko (Yôko Narahashi). The pair first met when they were in their early 20s. Kristófer (Palmi Kormákur) was a student at a university in London, but he dropped out to work at a Japanese restaurant run by Miko’s (Kôki) father, Takahashi (Masahiro Motoki), where he learned how to cook and quickly fell in love with Miko.

Touch Easily Moves Between Time Periods

It can be difficult to move between one time period and another, but Touch does it with ease, planting us in each moment while allowing us to absorb the feelings that come with it. The film isn’t overly reliant on dialogue to get its point across, and I was often left feeling like an outsider looking in, following Kristófer as he travels — languidly yet desperately — to find the one woman who stole his heart so many years ago.

Touch is a tender and genuinely romantic movie . It isn’t afraid to showcase its gentle side as it wears its emotions on its sleeve. It shares its joy and heartache in equal measure. Both of the characters’ lives are complicated in their own way, though the film smartly refrains from oversharing. We know just enough to piece together certain elements of Kristófer’s backstory and the tension with his daughter, palpable from every voice note she leaves him while her father travels in the midst of Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020.

[ Touch ] isn’t afraid to showcase its gentle side as it wears its emotions on its sleeve.

And yet, Kristófer is determined to find Miko after 51 years apart, knowing that he’s running out of time. Touch is effective because it’s not only about the complex feelings and connection between Kristófer and Miko, it’s also laced with mystery regarding what happened to Miko and why she and her father left London for Japan so abruptly. Information is provided to us in sparse bursts, and it’s enough to maintain intrigue and keep the story going.

Touch Explores Trauma & Its Generational Effect

Miko, a survivor of the atomic bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima , is still plagued by the catastrophic event. The filmmakers aim to highlight the lingering trauma with sensitivity, and succeed. It’s a reminder that we can talk about history as though it’s a vague and untouchable concept, but it’s very real, touching people and changing the course of their lives and the way they move through it. It doesn’t overpower the story, complementing it at every turn. The repercussions of Takahashi’s decisions are deeply felt, and we are just as viscerally moved by the film’s ending because of it.

If anything, Touch could have lingered a bit more on past moments. The film seems preoccupied with its present, the past a dream-like cobweb that is clearing from one’s memory. That said, Kristófer and Miko’s reunion is still beautiful and flowing with emotion. It’s also a testament to both sets of actors that we become so invested in the characters’ story. Their love and connection is genuine, and it’s a big part of what makes the film, even in certain predictable moments, so magnetic and lovely.

If nothing else, the film is a tender reflection on the past and its effect on the present.

Ólaffson is especially great at conveying the older Kristófer’s weariness and heartache. His face is so expressive, and I could feel the pain and joy emanating from his eyes. Kristófer is reaching the end of his emotional rope, but it doesn’t deter him from continuing to try. Yôko Narahashi is equally great, and though she gets considerably less screen time, her performance is moving.

I wish more time had been spent on the older versions of the characters as they reunite, but it’s still lovely to spend as much time with them as we do. Touch ’s ending is heartfelt and somber, but also hopeful. It’s two people reconnecting after so long apart, as they start to pick up the pieces of the lives they left behind to start anew. If nothing else, the film is a tender reflection on the past and its effect on the present.

Touch is now playing in theaters.

In Touch, a brilliant neuroscientist develops a groundbreaking device that enables people to feel the memories of others physically. As the invention gains global attention, it inadvertently intersects the lives of three strangers: a grieving widow seeking solace, an estranged son longing for reconciliation, and a young artist pursuing inspiration.

• Egill Ólafsson and Yoko Narahashi are especially great together
• The story is tender and moving, gently handling its subject matter
• Touch could have lingered more on past and present moments

Flip through the latest issue

Movie Review: Touch

Gray Pictures

Unrated, 3 stars

Directors are challenged enough big time, in attempting to connect successfully with audiences in terms of what they want to say, via visuals and talk on screen. So imagine the even greater formidable task, when evoking drama and emotions through tactile communication in a movie.

And with few resources on hand, Minh Duc Nguyen’s already going for broke Touch does just that, as seemingly the little indie that could. While summoning life’s simple pleasures and magnified human pain, through sensory feelings as received experience. And emanating as a vividly realized dramatic point of departure from of all places, a neighborhood nail salon.

Porter Lynn is Tam in Touch, a Vietnamese-American recent graduate, trained as a manicurist. And hired at a local LA nail salon filled with gabby female co-workers resentful of her educated, methodical dedication. Which they tend to view as a job pretty much just painting nails.

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So when a man nervously turns up on this female turf in soiled work clothes and greasy nails, the oddball customer is assigned to workforce pariah Tam, much to her unspoken displeasure. And when questioned by Tam as to the nature of his visit, Brendan (John Ruby) confesses with pained embarrassment that he’s an auto mechanic who wants his grease caked nails cleaned, in order to save his failing marriage.

Which seems to be disintegrating for some time now, due to a lot more than his wife’s aversion to sexual contact with soiled hands. Serious class difference loom between them, a couple that married too young and then went their separate socio-economic ways, metaphorically speaking. As lawyer Sandie (Melinda Bennett) has been doing the workaholic thing up the corporate ladder, while Brendan stayed stuck sizing up spark plugs for a living.

And since Brendan has been a sex-starved guy for far too long, the manual professional caresses of Tam – herself a brooding loner denied physical warmth in childhood that steered her into her chosen vocation in the first place – a very different set of sparks start to fly between them. And which leads to Tam arranging unauthorized home visit manicures for this eager regular customer back at her pad. Where Tam expands her repertoire of touching tips for Brendan to practice on her, as a way of winning back his wife’s affections. Even though both kinky instructor and more than willing student, despite their best intentions, can barely resist one another in the process.

As flaky as the premise of Touch may be, Nguyen nails it, so to speak. With genuinely heartfelt determination to craft a story sensuously steeped in the tenderly visceral side of romance usually overlooked in movies, while saving this stereotype-defying tale from veering into contrivance. As it refreshingly detours as well, around those dragon lady career women and China doll stock female caricatures that other movies seem to so readily succumb, more often than not.

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Director Baltasar Kormákur, who’s forged a comfortable career toggling between Hollywood tales set in far-flung spots ( “Beast,” “Adrift” ) and films set in his native Iceland, returns to his home country for the sweet/sad love story “Touch,” only to continent-hop again within its two-hour running time.

Restlessness is built into the story, adapted from a novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson and centered on a romantic memory animating a widower’s attempt to solve a mystery from his past. The result, anchored by enchanting performances and Kormákur’s reliably visceral storytelling, is an appealing pivot for a filmmaker who tends to gravitate toward adrenalized tales of survival.

Veteran Icelandic actor-singer Egill Ólafsson stars as Kristofer, who at the beginning is in the process of shuttering his Reykjavik restaurant, leaving home (“Forgive me,” he says to a picture of a woman we presume is his late wife) and getting on a plane for London. Radio snippets and masked workers let us know the pandemic is starting, and we see Kristofer doing memory exercises, an indication that his dementia is in its early stages. But the more pressing unknown driving Kristofer is what happened to a woman he fell for during his radical-youth college days in the U.K., when he worked as a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant.

Cue Swinging ’60s London, where we’re introduced to young Kristofer — played by the director’s shaggy-haired beanpole of a son, Pálmi, an untrained actor — and kind-eyed Miko (a radiant Kōki), daughter and fellow employee of the restaurant’s hard-working owner, Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki). Very quickly, thanks to cinematographer Bernsteinn Björgúlfsson’s warm, inviting cinematography and production designer Sunneva Ása Weisshappel’s lived-in, detail-rich restaurant set, we sense that this flashback is the movie’s central story, a comforting haven for a makeshift family of immigrants.

Before long, a mentor relationship develops between the restaurant’s alternatingly stern and gregarious proprietor and his unlikely new employee, who drops out of school to immerse himself in Japanese culture, from learning the language to cooking the food and even writing haikus. At the same time, an intimacy develops between the two young people under this thriving eatery’s roof, in stolen exchanges away from everyone’s eyes. But it’s a passion which English-speaking Miko has reasons to keep from her watchful dad, who still wrestles with the real and psychological scars of their lives in Japan as survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima.

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Eventually, as the past reaches its expectedly woeful end and the present’s possibility takes over, the older Kristofer — keenly underplayed by Ólafsson — makes his way to Hiroshima, where all is revealed about a romance cut brutally short 50 years prior. But it’s also when what had been a quietly engaging tale, one of strong-willed individuals from wildly different backgrounds bonding in a foreign land, is ultimately hamstrung by the added weight of historical incident. Though Miko’s connection to the bombing is sensitively handled, especially considering how the pandemic plays into the final scenes (which are marked by a touching performance from Yoko Narahashi, the film’s casting director), it also feels shoehorned in as a plot device.

But even after the pall of historical tragedy thickens, “Touch” is still perfumed with much to admire for a love story, especially where Kormákur’s compassionate way with actors is concerned. His résumé of action films obscures the fact that he also loves what can happen in a small space with looks, words and gestures. He sees sparks between humans everywhere, and that consistency of tenderness is an infectiously apt approach for a gentle movie in which an old man has clung to the memory of such feelings for decades, hoping to give them life one more time.

'Touch'

In Icelandic, English and Japanese, with subtitles Rating: R, for some sexuality Running time: 2 hours, 1 minutes Playing: In limited release July 12.

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Soo-Won (Kim Ji-Young) works as a caregiver for the sick in a hospital. Her husband Dong-Sik (Yu Jun-Sang) is former national shooter, but alcoholism cost him his chance to compete further. ... Read all Soo-Won (Kim Ji-Young) works as a caregiver for the sick in a hospital. Her husband Dong-Sik (Yu Jun-Sang) is former national shooter, but alcoholism cost him his chance to compete further. He now works as a shooting coach for a middle school. Although Dong-Sik is now sober, he i... Read all Soo-Won (Kim Ji-Young) works as a caregiver for the sick in a hospital. Her husband Dong-Sik (Yu Jun-Sang) is former national shooter, but alcoholism cost him his chance to compete further. He now works as a shooting coach for a middle school. Although Dong-Sik is now sober, he is compelled to drink with the chairwoman of the board on his new contact. After drinking w... Read all

• Byung-hun Min
• Yoo Joon-sang
• Kim Ji-yeong
• Kim Ji-young

• Park Dong-shik
• Lee Soo-won
• Park Joo-mi
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• November 8, 2012 (South Korea)
• South Korea
• Official Facebook
• MIN Byung-hun Film
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 39 minutes

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• Arts & Culture

Film review: Touch is a gentle, life-affirming and gorgeously detailed film

Pálmi Kormákur and Kôki star in Touch

• Cinematic release

Touch (15A) opens in Iceland just as the Covid pandemic begins. Rather than go into lockdown like the rest of the world, restaurateur Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson) boards a plane for London ‘to take care of unfinished business’.

It was in London in the late 1960s that the firebrand student of economics abandoned college: in a revolutionary act that shocks his fellow students, the young Kristófer (Palmi Kormákur) drops out to wash dishes in a Japanese restaurant, where he falls in love with Japanese culture, starts writing haikus and loses his heart to Miko (Koki), the daughter of his new employer, Takahashi (Masahiro Motoki).

Written by Baltasar Kormákur and Olaf Olafsson, with Kormákur directing, Touch plays out by way of extended flashbacks to the ’60s, as the seriously ill Kristófer, who is already beginning to lose his memory, recalls the halcyon days of first love that blossomed half a century ago.

It’s a gentle, life-affirming and gorgeously detailed film with superb performances across the board as the old and young Kristófers embark on quixotic adventures of the heart, the younger wide-eyed and hopeful, the older beaten down by the myriad cruelties of old age but as yet unbowed.

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Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

A widower struggling to raise his emotionally challenged son discovers that he can predict events before they happen. Two seasons, and 26 episodes in total.

Touch 2024 Movie Ending, Summary & Spoilers from the Book, Explained

This is a look into the full spoilers for Olaf Olafsson's Touch book ahead of the theatrical film's release.

Touch , directed by Baltasar Kormákur is adapted from Olafsson's 2022 novel and features a cast including Egill Olafsson, Kōki, and Palmi Kormakur. 

Produced by Focus Features, the official trailer for Touch was recently released ahead of its July 12 opening in theaters.

The film follows a man whose wife has passed away searching for his first love, who disappeared 50 years ago. Beyond that brief movie synopsis, here is a full spoiler summary of the Icelandic story of the Touch novel.

Touch Book Spoilers

In Olaf Olafsson's novel Touch , Kristófer, a retired restaurateur, finds himself unexpectedly drawn back into the past when he receives a friend request from Miko, his first love from 50 years ago. 

Despite the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on his business and his age, Kristófer decides to visit Miko in Hiroshima, Japan, where she now resides. 

As he reflects on their passionate yet secretive relationship in London decades earlier, Kristófer grapples with his own loneliness following the loss of his wife and strained relationships with his family. 

However, his journey is complicated by his unknown level of memory loss, casting doubt on the reliability of his recollections (as the book is in first-person perspective). 

Through Kristófer's narrative, Olafsson delicately explores themes of memory and the complexities of human relationships, crafting a powerful story that captivates with an authentic portrayal of internal struggles. 

Touch is described by many as a touching novel that makes readers think about the nature of truth and how our past can affect the present.

Touch Book Ending and Themes

The novel concludes with a sense of uncertainty Olafsson's writing style, characterized by its simplicity, suits Kristófer, who is portrayed as both smart and modest. 

The mystery is also solved as to why Miko disappeared and ended their affair originally, which is a major spoiler for the novel.

This understated ending reflects the author's ability to capture the complexity of human emotions without having to overexplain for readers.

Olafsson recently spoke to NPR's Book of the Day podcast, diving into how the novel centers around love, mystery, and loneliness themes. 

As the book was written during and is set within the recent COVID-19 pandemic, Olafsson called it "the perfect time" to write about the loneliness felt when someone feels they haven't lived the life they expected to live:

"The pandemic was probably the perfect time to write about that kind of loneliness and sort of the loneliness that you find yourself in if you feel like you haven't lived the life you perhaps were hoping to live or wanted to live at some point."

The novel digs deep into loneliness, exploring how one can feel isolated even in the presence of loved ones, especially in the absence of a significant person. 

The modern backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic adds depth to the exploration of loneliness while raising questions about memory and the selective nature of recollection.

An untrustworthy memory leads to an unreliable narrator.

Touch opens in theaters on July 12.

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Andrea Arnold offers up another tale of social realism with mixed results in Bird

Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan steals the film as a tattooed father trying to find a get-rich-quick scheme.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

Nearly two decades into her filmmaking career, Andrea Arnold has established her distinctive voice and point of view. Her latest, Bird, now making its North American debut at the Telluride Film Festival after a run at Cannes, is no exception.

Her subject, as usual, is a disaffected working-class youth beset by the circumstances of her community and the questionable choices of her parents. Here, it's Bailey (Nykiya Adams), a 12-year-old girl who must reckon with the prospect of her dad's newly announced wedding.

But Bird is really two different films: One a domestic drama chronicling the woes of life in the British working class, be it street gangs, teenage pregnancy, drug dealing, or domestic violence; the other is a fantastical tale of Bailey's encounter with a mysterious stranger who calls himself Bird (Franz Rogowski), and who may have some avian characteristics himself.

The storylines do intersect, and they're woven together by Robbie Ryan's cinematography. He masterfully captures the stark and unexpected beauty of abandoned flats, overgrown fields, and a grimy beach. Appreciation for the natural world is a theme throughout, and it's treated with poetic fervor, whether it be Bailey's marveling at a butterfly, her filming of a wild horse, or her connection to Bird and his wilder soul.

But it all feels a bit overwrought, telling a familiar story of an isolated young woman finding her resilience in the face of overwhelming, if also stereotypical, obstacles. Adams is Arnold's discovery, and she brings a tightly leashed rage and feral vulnerability to her work. But Adams doesn't truly explode until the third act, often leaving Bailey a figure of detachment in her own story.

The film's magical realism is its more intriguing and original aspect, with its open question of whether Bird exists and how much of what we see of him is real or in Bailey's imagination. Rogowski expertly embodies the ornithological aspects of Bird, making him all gangly angles with a preternatural stillness. He lends Bird an oddness underscored by a warmth that feeds Bailey's connection and sense of protection in his company.

Christopher Polk/Golden Globes 2024/Golden Globes 2024 via Getty

But the film's true standout, as seems to be the case in any performance he tackles, is Barry Keoghan (just wait for the winking swipe at Saltburn ). Like his character, Bug, Keoghan endured an unstable childhood, losing his mother at age 12 and spending nearly seven years in foster care. Thus, he brings a lived-in volatility to Bug, who is both striving to be a good father and consumed with his own romances and professional pursuits.

Only Keoghan could sell the absurdity of attempting to coax a toad to "slime," hoping to sell and profit off its psychedelic venom (this is a real thing, but Keoghan elevates it to a point of sublime audacity). His propensity for playing off-kilter characters is ideal for moments where he's singing to his toad or scootering about without a shirt showing off his tattoos (he wears a shirt for approximately one scene in the film). But he also lends Bug an unexpected warmth, as he tries to offer some measure of paternal guidance to his children despite being utterly ill-equipped.

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Still, Keoghan's brilliance can't save the film from its weaker aspects. Though Bird only runs one minute shy of two hours, it feels much longer, as it draws out its contemplative moments. Nowadays, it's a common complaint that movies are too long, but it's a far bigger problem when a film has an average running length and feels interminable.

Like the butterflies and pockets of natural beauty that Bailey is drawn to, there are glimmers of potential in Bird. But it never fully manages to take flight, leaving its provocative conclusion more jarring and confusing than revelatory. Grade: C+

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