Wish I Was Here (2014)

The first must-see film of the year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This Film was great, I love the way Zach Braff performs and the way some scenes are produced! I loved especially the scene in the end where Katie jumps into the pool and the moment is stretched into 5 minutes. One gets so soaked into the moment and just when its over you remember that she jumped and probably felt this range of introspections.

This is how a complete full packed movie should be. It has moments of joy, sorrow, relief & what not. And it shows how life takes turn. And how important the time is. You'll enjoy this movie, it's a heartfelt movie. Which makes you think & reconsider your priorities. It gives you broader aspect of viewing things. This movie has soul & so much to learn & feel. You shouldn't miss these one. And if you're film student pursuing Writing & Direction... You should definitely give it a try.

In Wish I Was Here, his second film as a director (the first one was the excellent Garden State), Zach Braff confirms his visual talent and his capacity to create emotive scenes. However, the screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Adam J. lacks a bit of discipline and self- criticism, because even though I liked Wish I Was Here, the story makes too many turns and tends to lose the road when it tries to handle too many sub-plots, irrelevant characters and occasional creative deviations, including a visit to Comic-Con and even imaginary sequences with a taste of science fiction. On the other hand, it's convenient to understand the fact that Wish I Was Here covers auto- biographical material (like Garden State also did), and therefore, it's easy to suppose that every character and narrative tangent have a particular meaning to Braff and his brother. However, as a humble spectator, I think that those elements distract from the interesting main story, and they occupy time which should have been dedicated to the vicissitudes from the main character and his immediate family. On the positive side, the whole cast makes a solid work in their roles. Braff feels credible in the leading role, while Kate Hudson reminds us of her big histrionic talent, which was usually wasted in the many romantic comedies she participated. The youngsters Joey King and Pierce Gagnon display maturity without losing spontaneity, and Mandy Patinkin makes a perfect work as the main character's grim father. Those are all the characters Wish I Was Here needed in order to be a perfect drama. But when we add the "loser" brother, his female neighbor, the antipathetic co- worker, the friendly rabbi, the angry rabbi, the unemployed friend, etc., the story gets diluted and loses the emotional focus. Nevertheless, as I previously said, I liked Wish I Was Here despite those deviations, and I can give it a moderate recommendation mainly to the followers of indie cinema with a certain tolerance to the usual vices in this kind of movies.

I hate Zach Braff, but not for the reason many of you think. I hate him for not making more movies, because each and every time he does something I'm amazed. I don't think this movie is a paraphrase of Garden-state, but you can see Zach's thumb-prints everywhere. It is deep, touching, makes you think about your life and find the similarities between yourself and the great and complex characters in the movie.And the best part about this movie - Zach made Bon Iver publish a new masterpiece, an amazing song with special tune. I guess Bon Iver and Zach Braff are kind of the same deal - amazing artists, that you crave for more and more of their work, and they don't give it to you in the correct dosage. This cold turkey is killing me.Go see this movie if you haven't so far. Don't expect a thriller or a goofy romantic comedy. Go see it as a self-search journey, you'd love it.