Wish I Was Here (September 2014)

Official Australian release date: 18/9/14. Viewed: 3/9/14.

Director: Zach Braff

Actors: Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad

Genre: Drama

Rating: M

‘Wish I Was Here’ is a very touching film. My best advice is don’t go in expecting a hilarious comedy, but nor is it a dour/depressing drama. Braff is steadily becoming an accomplished director, knowing when to lighten the mood, but importantly, when to keep it real and meaningful. In fact, I probably liked ‘Wish I Was Here’ more than ‘Garden State’…

The film basically follows Aidan (Braff) and his family as they struggle to live their lives in Los Angeles – he’s an out-of-work actor, wife Sarah (Hudson) is in a dull admin job, they can’t afford to keep the kids in expensive Jewish school, his brother’s an ambitionless drop-out, and to top it all off, his dad has lung cancer. Sounds bad? That’s the basic premise – how does the human heart overcome such adversity?

Once again, a fantastic soundtrack – featuring Bon Iver, The Shins & Paul Simon – with plenty of lovely moments, whether it’s a sight gag (pamphlet container) or a simple explanation of something odd (the contact lenses). There’s definitely some funny moments, mostly thanks to the youngest kid, Tucker (Gagnon, from ‘Looper’ & ‘Extant’) trying to understand what he’s being told. Oh, and Turk from Scrubs turns up briefly! Sure, it gets a bit dramatic in parts and perhaps doesn’t have the strongest ending.

But, that being said, Grace (King), Gabe (Patinkin) & Noah (Gad) all have some scenes that seriously pull at the heart strings/tear ducts! The delicate moments are handled exceptionally and there’s plenty of overt and concealed meanings in most of the scenes.

Overall: Emotive, life-affirming, moving film about love and family.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.