Review of Wish I Was Here (2014) by Kal T — 04 Aug 2014

Zach Braff has been a part of my life for over a dozen years. In that time so much in my life has changed. Friends came and went. Relationships crumbled big and small. My heart blew up into a million pieces, and I've only now started getting a few of them back.

This movie is a living, breathing, talking and walking part of who I am today. "Scrubs" saved me more times than I can remember. Often being the best part of a lousy day. "Garden State" came at the perfect time.

My ambition was peeking and that movie pushed me over the top. It helps that we are so close in age, and even closer in how we view the world and the people around us. Seeing Zach on the screen after all this time, a little grey in his beard, as I have in mine, but that look of intensity coated in compassion is still there and it's better than it ever was.

Zach has grown up as a filmmaker. I loved "Garden State" it too is a part of my soul, but this movie is better. In every way. The Actors all fit into their roles so seamlessly that it doesn't feel like a movie at times, rather a play about my life as it is now and as it was so long ago.

It is about letting go, standing strong, supporting those you love and above all, shows how life isn't over if your dream life doesn't come true, but that there may be a better life, a better dream and a bigger purpose for you than you ever could have imagined still out there! You just have to be brave enough to accept things for what they are, not what you wish they would be.

Zach shows humanity in a way few can. A stark reality mixed with the daydreams of someone who never gave up on a dream, but allowed it to evolve. I had tears streaming down my face through half the movie.

I lost it more than once. I suffered with Zach. I wanted to hug him though the screen. I needed a hug myself when it was over, yet I couldn't have felt any happier. So rare nowadays when a movie is so sublimely simple, masterful in it's everyday portrayal, and still mixes humor to save the day when called upon.

This movie is in my All Time Top 10. For many, many reasons. The easiest one to say is that this movie doesn't try to be anything it isn't. Instead it rests on the shoulders of Zach and the rest of the cast, and carries us along right until the screen fades to black.

The music in the film is so expertly placed it's criminal. Zach has alway had a soulful ear for music and it's place in a film and here it's on display at it's finest. It's too bad and somewhat angering to me that a movie as good as this doesn't get it's box office due, or the proper reviews or affection.

It deserves it in spades, and I give mine to Zach with the utmost respect and a wink and a nod, knowing that we have travelled along the same paths... Right next to each other for so many years past and so many years to come.

Thank you Zach. From the bottom of my duck taped heart. Thank you for making a movie so simple that it might pass you by. It shouldn't and I hope everyone gets the pleasure of seeing it. To be able to make a film this beautiful is a gift and I am glad I got to share in that gift.

Zach... You are forever a part of who I am today, and I can never truly thank you for the laughter, tears and your instantaneous ability to lift me up when I need it most.