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Photo courtesy Focus Features

Photo courtesy Glowbal Restaurant Group

Photo courtesy Disney+ and FX

Our City Tonight

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:29 PST, Fri November 22, 2024

Spotlight on, a beautiful film, classic Christmas sip, a gripping TV series

THE FILM – Touch

The Icelandic film, Touch, is the story of Kristofer, a widower in the “autumn of his years”, who discovers his memory is failing and his time is running out. His doctor, and friend, tells him, frankly, that now would be the time to settle all things. For Kristofer, there is only one thing he needs to “settle”: find Miko, the lost love of his life, who he last saw more than fifty years ago when he worked at her family’s Japanese restaurant in London. This is the basis for the film which jumps between the late 60’s and the current time, as Kristofer searches for Miko during the time when COVID is spreading and our world lockdown has started. Touch, which is Iceland’s entry for Best Foreign Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, is a beautiful, sensitive, and romantic film with a powerful lead performance by Egill Olafsson, and in the younger version Kristofer and Miko, actors, Palmi Kormakur and Koki. This film is now available for home viewing on Apple TV.

THE SIP – Eggnog

The holidays are approaching quickly, so with time still to prepare, we turned again to one of our “cocktail experts”, Martin Kovalcik, beverage director of Glowbal Restaurant Group. Kovalcik was already preparing the next holiday cocktail for our readers when we arrived at his home base, Glowbal Restaurant. “This cocktail is a big hit with our customers,” he tells us, as we sip the Glowbal Eggnog, and we can see why. It is, in our opinion, the best Eggnog in Vancouver. “It is from a secret family recipe,” Kovalcik says, revealing that it contains French brandy and Nocino (green walnut liquor from Vancouver Island). “Eggnog tastes better after we let it rest and blend the flavour for at least 1 or 2 weeks, “he says, “unfortunately because of high popularity we didn’t have a chance to let our Eggnog rest for more than 4 weeks.” Regardless, this is superb, enough so that we request another sample. Glowbal Eggnog is also served with freshly grounded nutmeg and gingerbread. And as we know, it is the perfect drink to warm your spirits and bring the friends and family together during the holiday season.

THE SERIES – Say Nothing

The Troubles is a term that applies to those years between the late 60’s and the late 90’s, when a civil war environment was part of daily life in Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 brought calm between the Catholic and Protestant communities, but the history and loss of life on both sides in those years can never be forgotten. Now comes Say Nothing, an historical drama series about life during The Troubles, when the IRA and the British government were engaged in a consuming fight on the streets of Belfast and all over the North (it sometimes spread south to The Republic and even England). Based on the best-selling book by Patrick Radden Keefe, the story – which spans four decades – begins in 1972 with the abduction of a single mother named Jean McConville, who was never seen alive again. The series examines the lives of various Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, Dolours and Marian Price, who were committed to their radical political beliefs. A great cast led by Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Maxine Peake, Josh Finan, and Anthony Boyle. Say Nothing is available for home viewing on Disney+.