Finding Connection Through Grief in Willow and Wu (2024)

We might not like feeling grief, but it has its merits. For one, grief can bring us closer together, especially with someone who has undergone the same feeling. Take today’s entry: Kathy Meng’s short film, Willow and Wu. Willow (played by Ao Lan Guo) is called into work by her boss, Mrs. Wu, after going through a painful breakup with her boyfriend. She tells Willow that her job is to film her husband, Mr. Wu (played by Yves Yan), reading a eulogy for his deceased, longtime best friend. Willow is unprepared to work with Mr. Wu, someone whom she has never met before. Despite their rocky start, both Willow and Wu bond over their shared trauma surrounding loss.

Before I get started, let me preface by asking: what makes a short film so engaging? Is it because of their ability to tell a story in a fraction of a full-length feature? Well, partially. But their true beauty lies in how they can take a single frame, a single snippet out of life, and use it to unravel a larger issue. They either have to be extremely creative or get to the emotional core while not sacrificing storytelling quality. Since Willow and Wu is 14 minutes long, it needs to fill either criterion. Does it succeed? Yes! We are treated to not just one, but TWO full character arcs within a minuscule timeframe.

You might recognize this sense of finding connection between an older man and a young woman from Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. However, while director Kathy Meng takes inspiration from the legendary film, she adds her own creative spin. Unlike Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson from Coppola’s film, we initially don’t see any similarities between Willow and Mr. Wu. Willow seems to be your typical relatable young person, whereas Mr. Wu gives off an air of indifference to everything around him. And this isn’t a surprise. In Chinese culture, you are expected to show respect to your elders, especially in a business setting. This only adds to Willow’s pressure of working for a complete stranger. However, as she begins recording his eulogy, we can easily see that the two are connected by shared grief over losing someone they love.

Something else that’s highlighted on a smaller, yet equally poignant scale, is the theme of self-worth. We see how Willow frequently doubts herself throughout the film. She feels the need to go to work on her off day, despite her emotional toils. And she feels completely inadequate in front of Mr. Wu when she introduces herself. You can see her lack of self-worth when you observe her clumsy and slightly uncoordinated mannerisms when setting up the camera and tripod. Kathy Meng specifically wanted to convey this theme, based on her personal experience as an assistant to a high-powered Chinese businesswoman. When you’re at the bottom rung of the corporate ladder, you’re left feeling undervalued or even worthless. But it’s through spending the day filming with Mr. Wu that Willow discovers that she is far more capable than she thought, when she can offer words of advice to someone much older and more powerful than her.

Now, you can’t just have a strong script and impactful message for a movie to be truly exceptional. You also need exceptional acting, and Willow and Wu has no shortage of it. Both Ao Lan Guo and Yves Yan are brimming with talent, and you can see just how deeply they understand their characters. From Ao’s tear-jerking emotional breakdown to the subtle yet depressed way she carries herself on the subway and even how tense her shoulders are when she’s around Mr. Wu. And then there’s Yves Yan as Mr. Wu. I love how he embodies the stiff upper-lipped businessman persona when he reads the eulogy script. His delivery is stiff and unfeeling, very much in line with a world leader who’s forced to make a public statement. It isn’t until he leaves his office to record outside in a park that his true feelings for his deceased friend are revealed. And when you see this side of him, you can’t help but feel warm and misty-eyed. Last but not least, I have to offer praise to Luna Ming as Mrs. Wu. Even though we never see her face, we understand just how magnetic and terrifying she is. From the way she treats her employees and talks to her investors to even how she writes the eulogy script and how much she craves control.

Kathy Meng’s Willow and Wu reminds me why I love short movies. But more importantly, it reminds me that even negative emotions can lead to something positive. They say that misery loves company, and it’s true. But finding genuine connection with a stranger through grief, especially across different generations, is rare. Filled to the brim with emotionally charged performances, Willow and Wu is a bitter yet necessary allegory for the expression “after a thunderstorm, there is a rainbow.” For those interested, the film features both English and Chinese. But don’t let this dissuade you; there are subtitles.