Touch [VHS]

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Touch [VHS] Review

A sometimes amusing but somewhat dark satire of faith, miracles, fundamentalism, and media exploitation is served up by writer/director Paul Schrader in "Touch," adapted from the novel by Elmore Leonard. Laced with subtle humor that seems somewhat contradictory to the serious subject matter, this is a film that is quite interesting without being too compelling. After seven years in South America studying to be a monk, a young man returns to the States and the anonymity provided him by his work as a counselor at a Catholic rehab clinic. Far from your normal, would-be cleric, however, Juvenal (Skeet Ulrich) has a unique gift: he can heal people by touching them, at which time he exhibits the stigmata. It's something he cannot explain, and somehow manages to take in stride. Inevitably, word leaks out about it, and scam artist Bill Hill (Christopher Walken) is right on it when it happens. Currently an RV salesman, he is an ordained minister and former evangelist who once performed fake healings and had a huge, blue neon cross above his "church" that could be seen for miles from the interstate. And he sees great things in Juvenal's future, and a lot of money for himself. First, however, he must get close to the stigmatic, while sidestepping a friend of Juvenal's, one August Murray (Tom Arnold), a Catholic on a quest to revert the Mass to Latin and do away with guitar masses altogether. For help, Hill turns to his assistant, Lynn (Bridget Fonda), who must try to gain access to the elusive Juvenal; together, they concoct a plan to get her into the clinic, where she can make contact and put him together with Hill. To tell the tale, Schrader put together an excellent cast and seemingly has all the ingredients for a successful project; somehow though, it all comes off as fairly lackluster, but interesting nonetheless. Ulrich does a good turn as Juvenal, capturing the sincere ambiguity of the character's view of his own ability to perform miracles, and makes it convincing with his grounded approach and by underplaying rather than trying to make him into something more enigmatic than he really is. He makes it a very real study of how someone would possibly react upon being visited with the wounds of Christ. Walken does a passable job as Hill, but there's not a lot of depth to his performance, and for a character that should have been quite flamboyant, he seems rather subdued. Fonda, too, gives something of a one-note performance as Lynn, who is likable enough, but tends to come off as uninteresting. Tom Arnold comes away with the most memorable performance, playing the obsessive August in a straight forward manner that makes him convincing and humorous, while making you take pause to reflect about what kind of a guy this really is and wondering how many people like him are actually running around loose in the world today. The supporting cast includes Gina Gershon (Debra Lusanne), Conchata Ferrell, John Doe (Elwin), Janeane Garofalo (Kathy), Anthony Zerbe (Father Donahue), and Paul Mazursky (Artie). There are a lot of nice touches to this movie, and though it may not be one of Schrader's best, "Touch" is entertaining and somewhat thought provoking; one of the problems is that there are times when you don't know whether to laugh or simply ponder, which comes from the light approach to what is essentially a pretty heavy-duty subject. All in all, it's a decent movie and well worth a look; this is the kind of film that videos were made for.

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