Touchy Feely (2013)

Abby: "I need you to fix me."

By Lynn Shelton
With Josh Pais, Rosemarie DeWitt and Ellen Page

I decided to watch Touchy Feely mostly because of Ellen Page since I enjoyed her work ever since she sported the charming haircut in Hard Candy (2005).

Touchy Feely is about an unconventional family who lives together. Paul: a work-driven dentist. Jenny: Paul's daughter who helps him out at the cabinet. Abby: a massage therapist who dates Jesse, a cyclo-enthusiast who comes to eat with the family most of the time. Everyone seems comfortable in their lives, at least comfortable enough to avoid changes, but things change rapidly when Jesse and Abby decides to move in together. Abby loses the energy, literally, do to her job. Paul, motivated by Abby, decides to pick up Reiki healing, a sort of energy therapy. And Jenny, who despite looking for schools on the side, decides to advertise for her father's cabinet.

Some of the greatest scenes of Touchy Feely give a rightful tribute to the title of the movie by means of close-up of skin or hands touching some surfaces. Touch is one of the least exploited sense in cinema, which is quite understandable but the effort done here is noteworthy, although not as noteworthy as the work around the sense of smell in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006). Despite this great effort and fairly good photography all around, the movie fails to make something concrete of that sense of touch. It certainly serves the story line in a few ways, but it could have given a lot more depth if it had been discussed more openly or if it had played a primary role.

The acting is good, and Ellen Page doesn't disappoint despite being, once again, cast in the role of artsy-yet-stuck post-teen role and the cheapness of some of her dialogues. Allison Janney illuminates every minute she is on screen as usual. The characters can be a little stereotypical but somehow the focus is not on the characters but on their interactions and their energy or aura, as this is after all, very much of an aura therapeutic movie. If the movie fulfills the sense of touch, it doesn't fulfill the sense of taste as there is a strong feeling of unfulfilledness that strongly lingers once the movie is over. We've seen the characters struggle and change but what is there for us as the audience? I feel there isn't much to remember of the experience I've witnessed.

I liked: Great touching scenes. Enjoyable acting.

I disliked: Lack of depth and messages to carry through. Probably should have been more of a comedy.

51/100
I might be a skeptic on the effects of energy therapy, but if you aren't, this film might work better for you.