Touchy Feely Blu-ray Review

The 1080p AVC/MPEG-4 encoded transfer of "Touchy Feely" on Blu-ray by Magnolia Home Entertainment delivers a visually appealing presentation. The cinematography, while not on par with top-tier equipment like Red or Arri Alexa, impressively captures a sharp and detailed digital look. The transfer shows no signs of the occasional distortions seen in Shelton’s earlier works. It boasts a clean and noiseless image, effectively rendering the overcast Seattle atmosphere and the distinctive interiors, from aging hippie accents to timeless family homes. Notably, the blacks and shadow details are meticulously handled, maintaining clarity during critical nighttime scenes.

The color palette is expertly managed, highlighting Seattle's verdant hues, which imbue the film with a distinct and authentic aesthetic. Background elements are detailed, enriching the viewing experience with depth and complexity. High contrast levels provide full-bodied blacks and deep shadows, free from banding and other visual aberrations. Even against Seattle’s often-cloudy skies, the picture quality remains consistently high, without compensating for the natural lighting challenges.

Impressively, Magnolia chose a BD-50 disc with an average bitrate of 30 Mbps, ensuring ample bandwidth for optimal image quality without excessive compression. This thoughtful decision underlines the commitment to delivering a superior visual experience, notwithstanding a few minor instances where the image momentarily softens. Overall, "Touchy Feely" offers a commendable high-definition image, capturing both the period feel and the nuanced aesthetics of its Seattle setting.

The audio presentation of the Blu-ray for "Touchy Feely" is characterized by a meticulously balanced DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that seamlessly integrates dialogue, music, and sound design. The score, composed and mixed by Vinny Smith, organically blends with the film’s sonic landscape, often mistaken for ambient sound effects. This subtle integration ensures that the music and soundscape never overshadow the primary focus on dialogue. The mix carefully distributes dialogue, predominantly through the center channel but occasionally extending to front and rear channels for scenes requiring spatial dynamics. Even during the party scenes with a pounding dance beat, the audio track smartly uses a contemplative ballad to maintain the movie's overall mood, ensuring the dialogue's clarity remains unimpaired.

One particularly noteworthy technical aspect of this mix is its precise imaging during musical sequences. For instance, when Henry sings, the vocals are distributed across all speakers, adapting to the camera’s angles, which is impressive in its execution. Although most of the mix is relatively straightforward, focusing on delivering clear dialogue and some atmospheric effects to set the urban environment, it offers moments of technical brilliance. However, there are minor inconsistencies; specifically, a club scene where the music sounds slightly muffled stands out as a rare lapse in an otherwise competent mix.

Overall, the audio track of "Touchy Feely" is robust and well-balanced. It presents a film that is easy to listen to while integrating all elements of its soundscape seamlessly. This thoughtful audio design supports the film’s narrative structure and enhances the viewer’s engagement through carefully crafted sound cues and spatial distribution.

The Blu-ray extras for "Touchy Feely" offer a delightful array of insights and behind-the-scenes content that enhances the understanding and appreciation of the film. The commentary track with Writer/Director Lynn Shelton, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Josh Pais delves deeply into the characters' motivations and the shooting process, sprinkled with entertaining anecdotes. The outtakes provide light-hearted moments primarily featuring Allison Janney and Josh Pais. The deleted scenes, though not essential to the central narrative, bring additional depth to the characters, particularly through conversations and a unique dream sequence. The comprehensive interviews with key cast members and Shelton reveal their connections to the project and their characters, while the AXS TV featurette and trailers round out the package by offering promotional perspectives.

Extras included in this disc:

• Commentary with Writer/Director Lynn Shelton, Rosemarie DeWitt and Josh Pais: Insights into shooting experiences and character development.
• Outtakes: Light-hearted moments featuring Allison Janney and Josh Pais.
• Deleted Scenes: Additional character depth and cut sequences.
• Interviews: Conversations with Allison Janney, Scoot McNairy, Josh Pais, and Lynn Shelton.
• AXS TV: A Look at Touchy Feely: Behind-the-scenes featurette.
• Trailer: Marketing focus on a romantic rivalry.

In "Touchy Feely," Lynn Shelton's exploration of familial and personal intimacy offers a promising setup revolving around massage therapist Abby, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, and her dentist brother Paul, portrayed by Josh Pais. The narrative commences engagingly with Abby's sudden aversion to physical touch—a significant hindrance in her profession—and Paul's unexpected acquisition of healing abilities for patients with TMJ. However, the film's attempt to weave these twin storylines into an interconnected thematic tapestry falters. Although Shelton evidently aimed for a multi-stranded narrative akin to Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," the execution feels uneven and lacks tonal differentiation, causing potentially impactful stories to dissipate before they can properly develop.

Performances from the ensemble cast, including Ellen Page and Allison Janney, further underscore the film's untapped potential. Paul’s burgeoning practice and burgeoning relationship with Reiki therapist Bronwyn (Janney) suggest rich veins of narrative that remain unmined. Jenny (Page), another critical character, is relegated to the background, serving mainly to advance Paul's storyline rather than her own. The movie seems constantly on the brink of delving deeper into its characters' psyches but stops short, offering only cursory glances that result in a lack of emotional investment.

Technically, "Touchy Feely" benefits from Shelton's Seattle backdrop, whose atmospheric cityscape complements the film's introspective tone. However, the editing—done by Shelton herself—often stymies narrative clarity, contributing to an overall sense of incompleteness. Despite an intriguing premise and strong performances, "Touchy Feely" ultimately struggles to provide a cohesive or satisfying character study. Potentially illuminating arcs and themes are hinted at but left underdeveloped, leaving viewers yearning for a richer and more coherent narrative experience.

"Touchy Feely" arrives on Blu-ray with a competent production quality that speaks to Lynn Shelton's directorial prowess. The film attempts to balance grounded human experiences with seemingly mystical elements, a combination executed with varying effectiveness. While the picture quality is clear and the audio immersive, the film's narrative structure falters, often feeling unbalanced and leaving viewers with an unresolved aftertaste. This lack of cohesiveness may detract from the overall experience, especially when compared to Shelton's previous works like "Humpday" and "Your Sister's Sister," which displayed a more complete and engaging storyline.

The juxtaposition of real-life relationships against unexplained phenomena is an intriguing approach, yet it's one that "Touchy Feely" doesn't fully capitalize on. The film veers towards focusing too heavily on specific elements at the expense of others, resulting in a disjointed narrative. Though Shelton's effort to create an authentic setting is evident, the movie often feels unbalanced, not quite achieving the same level of completeness or emotional resonance as her earlier projects. Fans of her prior films may still find elements to appreciate here, but might leave wishing for a tighter, more cohesive narrative.

In conclusion, "Touchy Feely" is a well-produced Blu-ray, and Lynn Shelton remains a filmmaker whose future work holds promise. But Touchy Feely doesn't work, and I can't recommend it.