Touch: reviews

What the critics say average 7.5 from 21 outlets

• 9.1 IndiewireChristian Zilko Spanning 50 years and multiple continents without ever shifting its focus from the universal human urge to ponder what could have been, “Touch” is an ode to accepting your life story without losing sleep over the things you couldn’t change. Read
• 9.0 VarietyCourtney Howard This gentle, unfussy romance contains a heart-clutching finale that’s as classically restrained as it is emotionally resounding. Read
• 8.8 Roger EbertNell Minow The film’s embrace of compassion and forgiveness for everyone is heartwarmingly spacious. It shimmers with grace. Read
• 8.0 Screen DailyNikki Baughan Director Baltasar Kormákur and his actors err on the side of restraint, delivering a balanced, absorbing human drama. Read
• 8.0 ColliderJeff Ewing 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. Read
• 8.0 Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele 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. Read
• 8.0 SlashfilmBen Pearson 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. Read
• 8.0 TimeStephanie Zacharek 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? Read
• 8.0 The GuardianCatherine Bray If we’re nitpicking it’s fair to say that neither of the couple’s interior lives are as fully fleshed out as would be permitted in a novel, but maybe they don’t have to be: they function as avatars for romantic hopes and dreams as much as anything, delivering all the vicarious pleasure and pain that we’re looking for when we tuck into a good romance. Read
• 7.7 The WrapWilliam Bibbiani What’s worth taking away from the film is its peacefulness. There are moments of friendship and family and workplace camaraderie that are real and charming. Read
• 7.5 Original-CinJim Slotek Touch is a film that moves at its own Icelandic pace to savour its own tragic, but ultimately hopeful story. Read
• 7.5 San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson Ultimately, the film does its job with skill and heart. Read
• 7.5 ObserverOliver Jones It is a difficult and painful subject to consider, talk about, and confront both in life and in the movies. But Kormákur’s quiet little film reminds us that when we do—and however we do it—the process can remind us what it is like to be human. Read
• 7.5 The Film StageDan Mecca Things are revealed, loose ends are tied, and Kormákur keeps it all moving at a brisk pace given the evolving intrigue. The word “lovely” feels old-fashioned, but it’s appropriate here. This is a lovely film. Read
• 7.0 New York TimesBeatrice Loayza “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. Read
• 7.0 The Wall Street JournalKyle Smith Touch is a worthy consideration of the things that matter most when the clock is running out, but it could have been more focused. Read
• 7.0 The Hollywood ReporterDavid Rooney 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. Read
• 6.3 Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips I admire this film’s craft. And I would’ve appreciated a messier, inner-life impulse to go with it. Read
• 6.3 Movie NationRoger Moore Emotional shortcomings aside, “Touch” still pulls you in, an immersive story of alien worlds — the 1960s, Iceland and Japan — sympathetically and patiently told, a lovely two hour break from the world and the fresh waves of bad news that stain even the best of times. Read
• 6.0 CineuropaDavid Katz This love story, often captivating and slightly eccentric, though never too demanding, unfolds across several eras. Read
• 5.0 The Globe and MailRadheyan Simonpillai Touch, adapted from Olafur Johann Olafsson’s novel, is handsome, sentimental and restrained (admirably, in parts). But it also leaves a lot to be desired – yes, a movie about yearning left me yearning – chiefly when it comes to the central romance, which is presented as more ornamental than passionate. Read