Set at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Touch opens as Kristofer (played by Icelandic musician Egill Olafsson) discovers his memory is fading and, heeding the advice of his doctor to resolve any unfinished business, sets off for London, despite the imminent threat of a worldwide lockdown.

Through a series of flashbacks, we meet the younger Kristofer (played by the director’s son Palmi Kormakur) in London at the end of the 1960s.

Disillusioned by the contemporary political landscape, he drops out of university and takes a job washing dishes at a Japanese restaurant, where he is taken under the wing of the proprietor, Takahashi (Masahiro Motoki).

He meets Takahashi’s beautiful daughter Miko (model Koki, also known as Mitsuki Kimura, the daughter of Japanese pop icons Takuya Kimura and Shizuka Kudo) at the restaurant, and the pair soon begin a passionate affair.

The structure of Touch sees the events of the past and present converge in a climactic revelation that explains why Kristofer and Miko’s relationship ended.

Suffice to say, Miko and her father fled Hiroshima shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945, with the dream of starting a new life in London.

Try as they might, the lingering impact of the event and the stigma of being hibakusha – atomic bomb survivors – would continue to impact their lives for many decades to come.

In Touch, his direction is gentle and unobtrusive, almost to a fault. The film’s perspective aligns with Kristofer, as he, and the audience, is kept in the dark while the film’s Japanese characters wrestle with their trauma off screen.

Rather than attempt to explore the deep emotional scars that burden Miko and her family, the film prioritises the nostalgic reminiscences of Kristofer’s first love.

During these moments, Touch captures moments of genuine warmth and youthful passion. But elsewhere the film proves hollow and reductive.

Miko and her family’s struggles remain largely unexplored, portrayed by Olafur and his director as simply the mystifying enigmas of an exotic people.

With great apprehension, we went to see the remake of The Crow to see how this new adaptation treated the source material.

*note: this review contains minor spoilers for The Crow

It is important to start this review by making it known that I am a huge fan of The Crow starring Brandon Lee. I personally was against anyone remaking The Crow, as I feel that some stories should not be touched again. However, when I saw the cast and the trailers for this new take on The Crow, I was willing to give it a chance. After all, it’s been 30 years, maybe this adaptation could bring something new to the table.

I will give the filmmakers this much credit: they did attempt to bring something new to the table. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work.

As you might expect with an adaptation of The Crow, the story features the star-crossed love story of Eric Draven and his girlfriend Shelley. When both are cruelly murdered, Eric is brought back by a crow to set this massive wrong right. That, as far as I’m concerned is where the film’s similarities to the source material end.

The Crow

Directed By: Rupert Sanders

Written By: Zach Baylin, William Schneider

Based on: The Crow by James O’Barr

Starring: Bill Skarsgard, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston

Release Date: August 23, 2024

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What really hampers The Crow is that the story takes far too long to get going. The entire film is plagued by pacing issues, especially in the first act. I can understand the desire to properly flesh out Eric and Shelley’s relationship before pulling the metaphorical trigger on the plot, but this was not the way to do it.

And even when Eric is brought back to enact his vengeance, the story still doesn’t take off. It’s a constant back and forth of “start and stop” until the last act of the film. The film’s final act is what partially redeemed the film for me, as that is when I finally felt like I was seeing the film we were promised in the trailers. The action in the opera house is gloriously bloody, but it was also something we should’ve gotten throughout and not just at the end of the film.

Then there’s the film’s antagonist.  I feel like the filmmakers misstepped in creating a new villain for this story. Part of what made the original film work as well as it did is that it drew on the characters that appeared in the comic book. In this film, the only recognizable characters are Eric, Shelley and, of course, the crow. With all these changes, not to mention a potentially interesting villain that we ultimately learn very little about, this feels very unlike a “Crow” film until, as stated before, close to the end. If several sequences featured in the final act had appeared instead in the second act (after Eric is brought back), this would’ve been a much improved film.

The Crow does get some things right. One of its best features is the visual aesthetic of the film. The city is dark, rainy, and there’s a general feel of griminess, which is fitting considering this is the world of The Crow. I especially like the “in between realm” where Eric ends up after dying. This is an aspect that wasn’t really explored in the original film and it felt like an extension of the Crow mythos that didn’t feel forced and worked rather well.

I also, as a musicologist, really appreciated how the film utilized music throughout. In particular, there’s the aforementioned sequence in the opera house that is far and away the best part of the film. Watching Eric fight his way through a number of enemies to the strains of Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le diable is a sight to behold and I genuinely wish the rest of the film lived up to the bar set by this scene.

Ultimately, The Crow is full to the brim with potential. The star power is there, the acting ability is certainly there, but almost none of it is used properly. This could’ve been a proper update of The Crow story, but instead it’s likely to be remembered as the remake that failed to launch. I won’t go so far as to say that the film should be hated and avoided, as the film isn’t all bad. However, it never once reaches its full potential and is very likely to leave the viewer feeling disappointed.

Grief is universal, but how we handle it is not. Everyone who has lost someone has their own story and way of dealing with it. Passionflix’s latest adaptation, The Air He Breathes, follows two people working to find their way through the grief that has taken hold of their lives.

Based on the book of the same name by author Brittainy Cherry, “The Air He Breathes follows Elizabeth (Kelcie Stranahan) and Tristan (Ryan Carnes), who find solace and healing in each other’s company after suffering devastating losses. As they navigate their grief and past traumas, they discover the power of love and second chances.”

I’ve seen many Passionflix movies over the years, but I have to say The Air He Breathes was the first one that made me cry several times from start to finish. When we’re introduced to Elizabeth and Tristan, they are both on their grief journeys. Elizabeth, who lost her husband, Steven, has decided to take her little girl Emma (The incredibly adorable Charlotte Ann Tucker) back home to Meadows Creek to try and start fresh. Meanwhile, Tristan, who lost his wife Jamie and their son Charlie, has essentially run away and gone into a sort of hiding. When the two meet, it’s not under the best circumstances because she accidentally hits his dog, Zeus, while driving. Naturally, this is not the best way to meet someone, and Tristan is rightfully upset. But Elizabeth sees something in Tristan. She sees the vulnerability under the anger and frustration, especially when he breaks down after hearing that Zeus will be fine.

As Elizabeth gets settled back home, she learns that Tristan is her next-door neighbor. This quickly sends us right into the good old enemies-to-lovers trope, which is one of my personal favorites. Even though almost everyone in town seems to have something negative to say about Tristan, Elizabeth sees beyond that because she senses something in him. She also appears to identify with him in many ways because she knows what it’s like to have the people in town pass judgment on her. Everyone expects her to behave a certain way since she lost her husband, which is tough enough because she’s still trying to figure out how to exist without him.

Tristan is a bit of a recluse in some ways because he makes it a point to keep his distance from everyone, and he’s just existing and not living. That is until Elizabeth enters his life. Try as he might, he really can’t avoid her. I mean, she lives next door. And secretly, he enjoys her company. Come on, how many people do you know that would willingly cut someone’s grass? Sure, Tristan initially claimed that he did it because he didn’t want her to wake up the neighborhood, but when he learned that, like him, she had lost her spouse, his views on her changed. During this time, Elizabeth and Tristan learn that they are not so different.

Soon, Elizabeth and Tristan begin spending a lot of time together. He helps her out a lot with the maintenance of her home. As they grow closer, their relationship shifts, and they sleep together. However, the twist is that they both agree they will use each other to keep the memory of their spouses alive. What could possibly go wrong? Except, you know, both genuinely develop feelings for each other. Elizabeth and Tristan are not emotionally equipped to have relationships that do not involve real feelings. They both love hard, and that’s obvious in the way they each love their spouses, Steven and Jamie. Watching their love scene was heartbreakingly beautiful because they feel everything so deeply. To some people, it probably seemed weird that they would do this, but ultimately, we all want to be loved and seek companionship. That’s the void these two were filling.

Even when they decide that sleeping together involves too much of their hearts, Tristan makes it clear he still wants Elizabeth in his life. Even if that means they can only be friends. And of course, we all know that doesn’t work either because these two have already been intimate, and now they know what it’s like, so it becomes even more difficult for them. As the saying goes, the heart wants what it wants. And Tristan and Elizabeth want each other. Unfortunately for them, there are a lot of people who don’t want them to be together. And old wounds are opened up in ways none were even prepared for. I am NOT going to go into that any further because I wouldn’t want to spoil the twist I didn’t see coming when I read Cherry’s book.

The Air He Breathes was a well-done book-to-screen adaptation. Both Stranahan and Carnes gave powerful performances as Elizabeth and Tristan. Stranahan added such a lightness to Elizabeth; there was a quiet stillness about her approach that was also so palpable. I also have to acknowledge that she brought out Elizabeth’s fiery nature. Carnes, whose character is a man of few words at first, was able to convey Tristan’s closed-off demeanor, and I loved that we could slowly, bit by bit, begin to see him become more open again to friendship and then to loving and being loved again. As I said, quite a few tears were shed while watching this. It’s probably the same amount as I did when I read the book.

I have to say this may be one of my new favorite films adapted by Passionflix. Director Rachel Annette Helson and Cinematographer Sean Conley created something beautiful with this film, showing a lot of care with Brittainy Cherry’s book. Her characters were indeed in great hands because it’s daunting to try and capture a story that not just the author loves but readers as well. We all know that readers are picky when we hear the words “book-to-screen adaptation,” so it’s beautiful when a director gets it right. If you’re looking for a romantic drama (believe me, The Air He Breathes has the drama) with heart and some twists that will make your jaw drop, this is the film for you.  

The Air He Breathes is now streaming on Passionflix.