Hey, Juniper! A Beautiful, Funny, and Heartfelt Film About Grief, Friendship, and Learning to Let Go

A still from Hey, Juniper! — All rights reserved to the director and producers of the film.

Hey, Juniper! is a beautiful film about grief, denial, loneliness, and the strange, sometimes ridiculous ways human beings try to survive the loss of someone they love. Written, directed, produced by, and starring Emily Slaughter Carver, the film follows Juniper Buchanan after the sudden death of her husband, as she struggles to move forward while keeping his memory — and his urn — close to her at all times.

At its heart, this is a story about a woman who has lost her other half. Juniper is grieving deeply, and she has not yet been able to overcome the pain of losing her husband. That grief begins to affect her mental health, her daily life, and the way she connects with the world around her. But what makes the film special is that it does not approach grief only with sadness. Instead, Hey, Juniper! finds humor, awkwardness, beauty, and humanity inside one of life’s most painful experiences.

The beginning of the film is very funny and immediately gives us a sense of who Juniper is. Without spoiling anything, we see her doing something unexpected, almost cute and strange at the same time, before her daughter enters the scene. From that moment, the film establishes its tone very well: emotional, awkward, sincere, and darkly comedic.