By Laurie Baron
SAN DIEGO– It has been ten years since Zach Braff’s directorial debut, the critically acclaimed Garden State. In the interim he has acted in a number of feature films and televisions series, becoming best known for his role as J.D. on the television sitcom Scrubs. When his brother Adam and he pitched their idea for a dramedy about a struggling actor coping with homeschooling his children and the impending death of his father, the studios weren’t interested. Then the Braff brothers promoted their project on the website Kickstarter to get the picture funded.
Wish I Was Here is the result. While it suffers at times from being emotionally manipulative and humorously scattershot, it is refreshingly moving and spiritually literate, to use Fredric and Mary Ann Brussat’s term for films that sensitively deal with ethical and religious themes.
Braff plays Aidan Bloom, an actor committed to his craft even when the last role he landed was in a dandruff shampoo commercial. Kate Hudson shines as his wife Sarah who supports the family with her humdrum job as a data in-putter who is sexually harassed by her co-worker Jerry. Since the public schools are terrible in their neighborhood, Aidan and Sarah have enrolled their preteen daughter Grace (Joey King) and six year old son Tucker (Pierce Gagnon) in an Orthodox day school chosen by Aidan’s father Gabe (Mandy Patinkin) who pays the tuition. When Gabe’s cancer metastasizes, he needs the money for experimental stem cell treatment that his insurance doesn’t cover. Patinkin captures his character’s gruff exterior but vulnerable interior perfectly.
Navigating how to educate their children, prepare for the death of a loved one, reconcile brother Noah (Josh Gad) with Gabe, and restore some balance to their marriage, Aidan and Sarah search for the meaning of their lives. Grace, beautifully portrayed by the expressive King, already has discovered that meaning in Judaism. She dresses modestly, loves her school, and looks forward to wearing a sheitel when she becomes a wife. She even shaves her hair to symbolize her piety. Tucker relishes the idea of not having to wear tzitzit to class. Aidan initially finds himself overwhelmed homeschooling the two, but eventually shares his awe of nature with them. Watching Aidan bond with his children and his father reignites Sarah’s love of him.
In the course of the film, each character, except for the rather underdeveloped Tucker, achieves a state of mindfulness about their attachments and obligations to each other. Gabe’s declining health is at the center of their evolution. His increasing dependence on Aidan and Sarah and appreciation of his grandchildren, particularly Grace and her unfaltering faith, enable him to face his mortality. Like Braff, Aidan grew up in a kosher household, but no longer believes in God. He consults a rabbi when he wonders if there is any broader significance to his life and Gabe’s imminent death.
Recalling how he and his brother used to imagine themselves as superheroes protecting their planet from aliens triggers Aidan’s visualizations of these cosmic struggles. These fanciful cutaways have bothered many critics for interrupting the film’s narrative flow. Yet they are at the core of its message. We are social creature in need of others as much as they need us. Though it could be more serious and subtle, Wish I Was Here succeeds in conveying the importance of being there for someone else rather than regretting not being there.
Baron is a professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University. He may be contacted at lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com