Just because its written and directed by the guy who was on the TV show Scrubs do not expect Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here to be a laugh-out-loud, comedy-driven story. Granted, yes, it does have a lot of funny moments and the dialogue is humorous, but this film has heart. As a warm story about family, purpose and self, it has a lot of unexpected deep moments riddled with ‘feels’ and a strong focus on character development, which is always a key factor in independent film.

Wish I Was Here is a crowd-funded film, meaning Zach Braff started a Kickstarter drive to fund his film, it made its target of $2 million in 3 days and the result is an overall pleasing film where its only real fault is a stale storyline that has been done plenty of times in the past. That doesn’t matter – every film needs to be looked at for what it is trying to achieve. The real challenge is creating a unique and original narrative that presents its own special tropes and this film really delivers on that.

Braff stars in the film as Adrian Bloom, a struggling actor who is falling on hard financial times, especially when learning his father can no longer pay for the private tuition his kids are afforded due to him falling ill with terminal cancer, so to avoid sending his kids to a public school, he decides to teach them from his home and it becomes clear very quickly that the kids and Bloom will learn more about life and each other than the intricacies of maths and English during their hardship.

There is a strong theme of religion, but it is delivered in a precise way that is totally relevant to the film. Bloom’s father, played by Mandy Patinkin, is a practicing Jew who only wants the best for his grandchildren and own two sons, who have distanced themselves from him since their mother passed away. All the characters, especially Bloom’s children are well written and have a lot of individual depth – something not always present in a big Hollywood blockbuster. The dialogue is very punchy and witty – feeling like a real conversation, which definitely adds to the experience.

Another big part of the experience is the use of music. Although the soundtrack is amazing, boasting tracks from Bon Iver and even recent Triple J Unearthed High winner Japanese Wallpaper, the repetitive use of melancholic tracks playing over with slow-mo montages is far too pretentious and grows tired as the movie rolls on. However using music as an emotional tool cannot be appreciated enough in a film so for the attempt Braff gets an ‘A’ for effort.

Tonally, this film is extremely similar to Braff’s last directorial movie Garden State and leaves the audience with a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment at the closing credits, and for some; will undoubtedly produce some happy tears. Again, it’s all about the ‘feels’ and ‘Wish I was Here’ feels good.

Check it out from Thursday 18 September at Palace Electric Cinema in New Acton.