Specifically addressing the "almost no ceremony" claim and not the "totally worth it" claim:

JS:

  let person_1 = { };
  let person_2 = { parent: person_1 };
  person_1.child = person_2;

Rust:

  use std::cell::Cell;
  struct Person<'a> {
      parent: Option<&'a Person<'a>>,
      child: Cell<Option<&'a Person<'a>>>
  }

  let person_1 = Person {
      parent: None,
      child: Cell::new(None)
  };
    
  let person_2 = Person {
      parent: Some(&person_1),
      child: Cell::new(None)
  };
    
  person_1.child.set(Some(&person_2));

And that's before we start talking about function signatures and traits.