What makes it different from others?

To me, this movie is perfection.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Writer/Director Paul Schrader continued his eclectic career with this film based on an Elmore Leonard novel about an uncharismatic healer (with stigmata) whom others wish to exploit for their own purposes. Skeet Ulrich, plays the healer Juvenal with just the right amount of curiosity, emotional detachment, and innocence. The always watchable Christopher Walken plays the scheming Bill Hill, a disgraced evangelist of the worst kind more concerned with drumming up business than saving souls. His plan is to enlist his significant other Lynn, Bridget Fonda, to infiltrate a rehabilitation clinic (where Juvenal is holed up) in order to gain Juvenal's trust before she and Hill make their exploitation pitches. The trouble is she falls in love with Juvenal, creating more than just a few problems. Meanwhile, August Murray, wonderfully played by Tom Arnold, is a religious zealot who sees through Bill's and Lynn's schemes, and he goes all out to block their attempts to exploit Juvenal while trying to get Juvenal behind his own agenda against the Catholic Church. Arnold's character is essentially the religious zealot version of Michael Douglas' character William Foster in Falling Down.Schrader has concocted a complex comedy/drama about religion, belief, and love without being exploitative himself, which is no small feet considering the subject matter. There's a problem with the film in that it's not entirely successful with how it treats its subject. Some viewers will be put off by the comedic contrast between the Walken, Fonda, and Arnold-influenced scenes compared to Juvenal's healing scenes. It's difficult to tap an emotional response to Juvenal because viewers won't necessarily be sure of Schrader's intent. However, the performances are genuine enough, the characters are enjoyable, and the screenplay is above average with dialog that is as clever as it is humorous. Gina Gershon, Janeane Garofalo, and Lolita Davidovitch all offer great support. Viewers who are familiar with Schrader's religious background will no doubt garner some enjoyment from the film, while other viewers may have trouble with the subject matter all together. Director Paul Mazursky plays Artie. *** of 4 stars.

Elmore Leonard novels tend to deal with sleazy characters operating at the fringes of society. "Touch" is a strange book in that the sleaze bags are presented in a different light. They're not the obvious con men, but they are people that are trying to take advantage of a situation that is perceived as a money producing scheme.Paul Schrader has adapted and directed, but the essence of the book is somehow elusive by what is presented to us. Yes, we realize that Bill Hill is into making a fast buck if he can sell Juvenal as the miracle worker with supernatural powers. In fact, this theme has been done more successfully in other films. What the director accomplishes are good performances from his cast. At times the movie feels flat and without a clear direction as where it wants to go; we don't care too much about Juvenal after he loses his 'touch' and he becomes a mere mortal.Skeet Ulrich is excellent as Juvenal; this actor is always a welcome sight in any movie he is in. Christopher Walken turns a controlled performance as Bill Hill, the man in search of a good con that will do anything to get it done. Bridget Fonda is also low key as Lynn, the skeptical woman who sees good in Juvenal and ends up falling for him. Also very effective is Tom Arnold, the man that wants to take the church into the right path and will stop at nothing to protect his own views.

Paul Schrader can be very erratic as a director. I think Affliction is his best film, by far, and this movie and Blue Collar are his next best. That said, you cannot be immune to the basic conceit and find it provocative, much less enjoyable. If you can accept that the Skeet Ulrich character may have St. Francis like qualities, and can really heal sick and handicapped people, Touch is a wonderful film. Christopher Walken (as always) is excellent as the ambitions and unseemly tent-show preacher, hell bent on making a fortune from the "healer-man"; and the others in the cast, Bridget Fonda, Anthony Zerbe and Tom Arnold especially, are excellent, too. Arnold, in particular, brings an amazing zeal and perfect, inadvertent humour to his portrayal of a slightly militarist, born again, religious fanatic. Certainly the movie raises more questions than it answers, and it is not quite as spiritually provocative or deep as Bigas Luna's Renacer, but it is certainly well worth watching.

`You are an odour in the nostrils of God,' jabbers religious zealot August Murray (Tom Arnold). He is damning sometime revivalist Bill Hill's (Christopher Walken) cynical marketing of Christ-like figure Juvenal (Skeet Ulrich essentially playing Edward Scissorhands minus the blades). Hill wearing a glitzy gold jacket and an enormous `Thank You Jesus' necklace sees a book deal and a slot on the awful Debra Lusanne Show (Gina Gershon superb at mimicking Ricki Lake with a snarl) for the innocent healer, who has stigmata on his rib cage.In lesser hands than Paul Schrader, Elmore Leonard's non-crime novel could have become an overwrought toil in the evils of America's salacious media. However, Touch is actually a wryly amusing and unhurried look at faith and exploitation. The histrionics and belly laughs are bestowed upon the cameos, who obviously capture the best lines: `Do they make condoms that protect the soul' (Arnold) and `Controversy is the oxygen I breathe' (Gershon). Ultimately, best savoured on video. --Ben Walsh