The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu (2023)

Lily Wu (Lisa Lu) is running out of time. She’s lived a long life, but as she nears the end she wishes that she could have more time, another chance at adventure. One night her granddaughter, Emma (Rochelle Ying), her friend Karen (Tiffany Wu) and Lily’s caretaker Charlotte (Joely Fisher) sneak her out of her nursing home and begin a wild road trip up the coast of California. The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu is challenging for Mary (Michelle Krusiec), Lily’s daughter, but for those experiencing this adventure, they are having the time of their lives.

The reality is that the entirety of The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu fails to entertain. The acting, audio, cinematography, hair and makeup, and everything in between fails to live up to any expectations viewers (or the filmmakers) could have had. The only thing that stands a chance is the story–but even that, with everything failing to develop or entertain, is barely given life.

The audio is troublesome. The dialogue never sounds like it’s coming from someone, but rather it sounds like it’s coming from elsewhere–from behind me, an additional audio track, or something else entirely. Regardless of where it’s coming from, however, it throws viewers off. The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu faces a series of challenges throughout, but this aspect of the film may just have been the most frustrating. Something as simple as effective audio eludes this film, and as viewers navigate this challenging film, the antagonistic nature of the audio only makes things worse.

Set design is another one of the many things that makes The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu a challenge to get through. There’s more to this than just the way in which the set is designed, as there are often times throughout the course of the film where continuity errors exist–and they often exist in the way that the set looks. That doesn’t just hinder the aesthetic of The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu, but the film as a whole. While it may seem like some of these inconsistencies are minor, that they don’t play a major role in the overall film–the reality is that when they happen time and time again throughout the film it begins to weigh heavily on everyone and everything else as well. Writer-Director Anna Chi looks lazy, the editing team and the set designers look incompetent. This may not be the truth–and these things very well could have been oversights in the grand scheme of film production–but the way in which the world sees these things looks bad for the filmmakers.

This is one of the most painful viewing experiences of my life. At times it almost feels as if the cast is trying to perform poorly, like The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu is a joke to them. There were numerous times that I considered turning off the film, as I often felt as if I was being tortured–as if someone had agreed to distribute this film as some kind of sick joke. I can’t understand how anyone watched this film, regardless of how much time and effort was put into it, and thought it was a success (or had any chance of finding success). I’ve actually sat and contemplated whether or not this is the worst film I’ve ever seen. Films have aggravated me, forced an agenda, failed to entertain, possessed little to no production value–and yet, with all of those films remaining vividly in my mind, The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu may still take the prize for being the worst. You’d be hard pressed to find anything at all about this film that you find enjoyable. Short of knowing someone personally that helped to make this film, I don’t think there’s a reason to talk about it ever again. It will soon fade into nothingness, hopefully never to see the light of day again.

Directed by Anna Chi.

Written by Anna Chi & Donald Martin.

Starring Lisa Lu, Michelle Krusiec, Rochelle Ying, Tiffany Wu, Joely Fisher, Adrian Pasdar, Archie Kao, etc.

⭐½/10