credit: Baltasar Breki Samper
What? You’ve not heard of Touch? You’re not sure it’s a movie for you? Here are ten reasons to enjoy the new Icelandic film about an elderly widower journeying to find his first love before it’s too late. The movie opens this Friday July 12 and is presented by Focus Features:
1. In a world that loves to typecast everyone, it is refreshing to see the director, Baltasar Kormakur, no longer has actors dodging giant waves and scaling icy mountains. Kormákur does a genre flip with this loving heartwarming tale, a departure from his past (bigger budget) action-packed screen adventures such as Beast, Adrift, Everest, and Two Guns..
2. You are in the mood for a romantic fairy tale about lost love wrapped inside one of history’s greatest tragedies (and the subject of last year’s biggest blockbuster, think, the heavier of side of Barbenheimer).
3. It appeals to you to watch a multilingual/cultural movie in Icelandic, English, and Japanese, with actors bravely venturing outside their comfort zones.
4. It’s summertime and you like movies that take their sweet time.
5. You want to see a movie with a hunky-gorgeous, polite male protagonist who is not only shy around women but intellectually politically correct — and can cook!
6. You saw Wim Wender’s Perfect Days and need another Japanese-infused movie about past regrets and romantic yearning. Think Japanese melancholy meets Icelandic introspection wrapped up in a package about missed connections.
7. You are curious how a movie romanticizes the worldwide shutdown on three continents. Touch has got that covered (even though some characters have no clue how to wear a mask).
8. No matter what, you like films with actors who are genuine in their roles and make fairytale plots seem plausible. Egill Olafsson, Koki, and Palmi Kormakur are excellent actors who bring a natural charm and keep the story grounded.
9. You like movies about older adults reminiscing about the excellent sex they had in their twenties — especially older adults who are possibly entering a state of mild dementia.
10. You read Touch, the novel by Olaf Olafsson, and nothing keeps you from seeing this movie.
Stephan Koplowitz is a director/choreographer and the author of On Site-Methods for Site-Specific Performance Creation by day. By night, he’s an avid cinephile.