Chrysanthemum

What does it feel like to lose one's mother to the intrusive quarantine regime of a dictatorial state amidst a global pandemic? In Chrysanthemum, Jingyuan Luo approaches the case of a Chinese ""suicide jumper,"" living and reliving the trauma of a death made invisible by the state that had caused it. Like the eponymous flower of mourning, her contemplation is beautiful in its harrowing sadness. Returning the gaze to the viewer, the film asks how to relate to the reality of this tragedy after it has been eclipsed by the clamour of propaganda and the silence of censorship.