Touch - Cinématographe Limited Edition

Alright, before I dig into the film itself, it’s probably worth noting that Touch by Elmore Leonard is one of the author’s few non-suspense novels and is not well regarded even among his most ardent fans. The exploitation of a contemporary religious miracle may seem like something that Leonard’s dialogue can really enhance and bring depth, but critics lambasted the novel for being underdeveloped and with unconvincing characters. Maybe that’s why Paul Schrader’s Touch feels a bit more fleshed out than the novel itself, making good, subdued seriocomedy out of something that threatens to be much wilder. It should come as no surprise that Roger Ebert did not recommend the film upon its initial release, but he did leave a note encouraging “unreasonable filmgoers” to seek out the film. I am one of those unreasonable filmgoers.

When former evangelist Bill Hill (Christopher Walken) discovers Juvenal (Skeet Ulrich), a young man who can heal people simply by touching them, the game begins to exploit Juvenal’s talents in the only way American culture can. In walks Lynn Faulkner (Bridget Fonda), the woman responsible for leading Juvenal on the path to enlightenment by forcing him to perform the stigmata in front of a live television audience. But when Lynn falls for Juvenal, the plan to exploit him goes haywire. That’s not to mention how a fundamentalist reverend by the name of August Murray (Tom Arnold) is also working against Hill’s plans, threatening to put an end to the entire enterprise before it succeeds. This is the story of Jesus in contemporary America, or something like that.

There’s a reason why Touch isn’t brought up when critics and audiences talk about their love for the one and only Paul Schrader. The former devout Calvinist is very serious about religion even when his films find comical nuances within religious structures, and Touch is very much an attempt at envisioning what the exploitation of a religious miracle would look like in contemporary American society. That’s to say that it’s often lukewarm, playing off in a subdued manner that doesn’t lend itself to just how crazed the material can and should probably be, but it still has Schrader’s trademark of not making examples of his characters. When you expect August Murray to act out in bloviating aggression to get his way, Tom Arnold is allowed to ham it up and sidestep the tropes his character is locked into in the novel.

Schrader’s serious touches are mixed with nuance to return something that meanders, changing tonally from scene to scene, though watching the film now has certainly enhanced my appreciation for what feels like an impossible adaptation. Not impossible because you can’t recreate the incidents within the novel, but because it’s such a wonky source that it comes as a surprise that so many filmmakers attempted to adapt this one in the 90s. This little ramshackle drama is more than worth a revisit despite its failures. Like most Schrader films, it contains moments of natural beauty in human behavior that I doubt any other filmmaker would have pulled out of Elmore Leonard’s novel. And for that, this unreasonable filmgoer thanks Schrader immensely. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays
Reach out and touch Cinématographe’s new Blu-ray release of Paul Schrader’s Touch, presented here as a single-disc (BD50) Blu-ray release housed in the label’s customary mediabook slipcase. The mediabook offers the single disc and three essays written by film critics Bilge Ebiri, Chris Cabin and Cosmo Bjorkenheim. The disc itself boots up to a standard menu screen with options to play the film, set up audio/video, explore bonus features and select chapters.

Touch makes its worldwide Blu-ray debut courtesy of Cinématographe with a 1080p presentation sourced from a new 2K restoration of the 35mm interpositive. First, you’re probably wondering: why no 4K? Well, once you watch Touch for the first time, you’ll probably understand. Schrader was working with a very small budget and a very tight shooting schedule, to the point where he stated that he had no time to set up any shot that wasn’t required for the film, thus everything is pretty standard for a 90s film. Primaries aren’t vibrant, trading in for a very subdued aesthetic that revels in the drab, minute details of contemporary American living. Flesh tones are tuned in just right and grain is appreciable but not too thick. If you’re wondering if Touch should look a bit soft, you’d be completely right, opting for earthy tones rather than something that looks too much like a movie. Encoding is strong and makes easy work of the presentation, with a consistently high bitrate for exteriors and a bit less for interiors. While this may not be some outright stunning restoration, the film’s style doesn’t call for it. The source is in great condition with little to no damage of note. Props to Cinématographe for honoring the look of the work.

Touch is presented with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track that is in similarly great condition to its video counterpart. Dave Grohl’s sparse score is resolved very well with the dialogue. And though the film doesn’t offer a huge LFE performance, clarity is very appreciable and dialogue is stable. 

As for supplements, Cinématographe did their due diligence and packed this edition with context from writer-director Paul Schrader and a murderer’s row of Schrader experts in the form of Bilge Ebiri, Chris Cabin and Cosmo Bjorkenheim. It has been a great pleasure to see that the Cinématographe-produced essays rarely repeat the same thoughts, and this release is no exception. The new interview with Schrader is a bit brief since it runs under 15 minutes and features Schrader’s trademark rambling, but it’s nice nonetheless to hear from the man himself. This is a great collection of supplements for a film that has up until now received little to no attention on physical media.

• Audio Commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell
• Video interview with writer/director Paul Schrader (HD 12:34)
• Video essay by Daniel Kremer (HD 12:11)
• Booklet Essays by film critics Chris Cabin and Bilge Ebiri and filmmaker/writer Cosmo Bjorkenheim

While Paul Schrader’s Touch may not be the most well-regarded entry in this beleaguered filmmaker’s career, it’s a fascinating film to look back on and appreciate given the new context provided by Cinématographe’s new Blu-ray release. The new 2K restoration from the 35mm interpositive is good and brings out the subdued, earthy tones of the film, while the supplements package is rife with historical and critical context to further your appreciation of this ramshackle comedy-drama. This release comes Recommended! 

Order Your Copy of Touch on Blu-ray