This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by Haunt Love) is limited to 5,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.
Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.
Former evangelist Bill Hill (Christopher Walken, King of New York), discovers Juvenal (Skeet Ulrich, Scream), a purported miracle worker who can heal people simply by touching them and bears the marks of stigmata on his body. Hill, no stranger to exploiting others, sees a potential fortune in Juvenal and primes him for show business but Hill’s plans go awry when the woman he entrusts to seduce Juvenal (Bridget Fonda, Jackie Brown) falls for him and a fundamentalist reverend (Tom Arnold, True Lies) threatens to put a stop to the whole enterprise.
Based on a novel by noted crime author Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Jackie Brown) and adapted for the screen and directed by Paul Schrader (Hardcore, Affliction), TOUCH is a burst of post-Tarantino dark comedy, matching Leonard’s offbeat characters with Schrader’s unwavering examination of theology in America. Featuring an ensemble cast that also includes the likes of Gina Gershon (Bound), Lolita Davidovich (Raising Cain), Paul Mazursky (director of An Unmarried Woman), Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites) and LL Cool J as himself, TOUCH is quintessential Paul Schrader and ripe for rediscovery. Cinématographe is proud to present this often overlooked entry in the career of one of America’s most prized filmmakers in its first ever blu-ray release, sourced from a new 2K scan of its 35mm interpositive.
directed by: Paul Schrader starring: Bridget Fonda, Christopher Walken, Skeet Ulrich, Gina Gershon, Tom Arnold, Paul Mazursky, LL Cool J, Lolita Davidovich 1997 / 96 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD MA Dolby Stereo
Additional info:
Region A Blu-ray
New 2K restoration from the 35mm Interpositive with original Dolby Stereo soundtrack
New video interview with writer/director Paul Schrader
New audio commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell
New video essay by Daniel Kremer
Essays by film critics Chris Cabin and Bilge Ebiri and filmmaker/writer Cosmo Bjorkenheim
English SDH subtitles
Overall rating: 4.3358207 / 5 from 268 reviews.
AI Generated Review Summary
The Touch Blu-ray Limited Edition from Cinématographe is highly praised for its exceptional quality, beautiful packaging, and outstanding film transfer. The ensemble cast and Paul Schrader's direction are also lauded, though some find the comedy offbeat. This release includes new interviews, commentaries, and essays, making it a must-have for fans of American cinema.
"Paul Shrader's most sensitive and less out there effort is a sensitive mild comedy with heart!" — LUIS C.
"Interesting film with fantastic packaging and transfer." — Nathaniel M.
"Beautiful transfer and great special features/ unparalleled packaging." — Samuel B.
Reviews
The treatment of this film
"The treatment of this film upgraded to 4k is great. The cast is interesting and well put together. You should make a spot for this in your collection to see what its like to watch. Good for cinephiles who like odd stuff."
— Bradley T. (5/5)
Paul Schrader brings it!
"This edition is filled with extras along with an amazing restoration."
— Thomas E. (5/5)
Odd but enjoyable
"Definitely feels like a movie only from the 90s but in a good way! Great performances and excellent transfer and packaging."
— Craig G. (5/5)
Cinematographe Always Does Cool Stuff!
"I don't know enough to know if I'd recommend this one, but the effort that Cinematographe always puts into their releases makes me believe each and every title is worth it. I'm glad to check out this release, I'm always in for Skeet Ulrich, Bridget Fonda, and plenty more on the cast and it's cool to see the video era get a transfer upgrade like this."
— Jake B. (5/5)
I was touched
"Paul Schrader's adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel is a brilliantly cynical dark comedy A great discovery for me."
— Kevin G. (5/5)
Touch
"Great cast, story, and direction. Excellent 4K video and audio presentation."
— Peter D. (5/5)
The kind of film, you never thought would get a deluxe release
"A box office flop from a great filmmaker that doesn't live up to its narrative potential or the great cast assembled for it, but t's the kind of curio that keeps you coming back, and we didn't have to opportunity to do that, until this wonderful release. More forgotten '90s films please, Cinematographe!"
— Timothy E. (5/5)
A so-so film
"Beautiful presentation. An ok movie. I love seeing Bridget Fonda. Gina Gershon and Janeane Garofalo were bonuses. What is soooooo great is seeing Paul Schrader in the extras."
— Gavin R. (3/5)
great presentation of Schrader's flawed (but still important) film
"Paul Schrader’s Touch feels like a movie that should have been engineered specifically for me: faith healing, religious spectacle, the commodification of miracles, and the tension between institutional religion and lived goodness, all adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel. On paper, it’s my exact lane. So I was genuinely surprised by how much I disliked it. That reaction isn’t rooted in theological defensiveness—quite the opposite. I’m a mystic by temperament, someone who wants to believe in transcendence, grace, and the possibility of healing. Which is precisely why the film’s failures sting. I largely agree with what Touch is trying to say. I just don’t think it ever makes those ideas come alive. At its center is Skeffington Chase (Skeet Ulrich), a guileless former faith healer whose apparent gift may or may not still work. Schrader’s instinct is smart: Skeff isn’t a messiah, just painfully open—so open that he’s easily co-opted by media, institutions, and opportunists. The film hints at something incisive here: maybe goodness looks less like power than vulnerability. Maybe grace makes you usable. I love that idea. I just don’t think the film earns it. Tonally, Touch feels scattered. It wants to be breezy in an Elmore Leonard way, spiritually serious in a Schrader way, and lightly satirical about religion and pop culture. None of those modes fully land. The jokes rarely work. The emotional beats feel undercooked. The score doesn’t help. Dave Grohl’s aggressively late-’90s sound constantly competes with the movie instead of supporting it, growing more distracting as the stakes rise. Rather than creating mood, it grates. Oddly, the film’s strongest performance comes from Tom Arnold, who plays a Catholic moral crusader running an outrage organization. He’s ridiculous but also lonely and wounded—another of Schrader’s familiar alienated believers, equal parts critique and self-portrait. There’s real texture there. By contrast, Christopher Walken is given almost nothing to inhabit as a washed-up evangelist turned hustler. Beyond surface quirks, the character lacks cultural or spiritual specificity. It’s not a failure of performance; it’s a failure of writing. And yet there are flashes of something better. Bridget Fonda is quietly effective. The central romance has warmth. The core question—what would actually happen if someone were performing miracles now?—is a rich one. The late talk-show monologue, where Skeff articulates a humble, practice-based faith over spectacle or proof, is surprisingly moving. I agreed with it. I could preach it. But that’s the problem: I’m moved by the ideas, not the movie. For all its talk of grace and incarnation, Touch never feels embodied. The characters don’t quite come alive, and the final movements feel rushed and underdeveloped. Schrader has explored this same spiritual terrain with far more rigor and style elsewhere. Still, Vinegar Syndrome’s Cinématographe release makes a strong case for revisiting it. As a lesser-known entry in Schrader’s filmography, it’s an interesting curiosity and looks great on disc. I just wish the film itself were stronger. If faith is supposed to be something lived rather than theorized—something fleshy, incarnate—then Touch feels frustratingly abstract. It gives you ideas to ponder, but not much you can touch."
— Jonathan M. (3/5)
Touch (Limited Edition Slipcase)
"As a Schraderhead, I had to pick up this wonderful release by Cinématographe and can't wait to dive into it after I read the novel!"
— Andreas S. (5/5)
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