Daun di Atas Bantal

Authenticity is key in this piece, mirrored from its costume, art direction, cinematography and of course casting. From my opinion, 'Daun Di Atas Bantal' is a well balanced realism.

With intense performances by the real street children, it's only natural to feel like a documentary. Very composed and driven, the respectable Christine Hakim as 'Asih' (or perhaps derived from 'Kasih' which means love?), topped this fact and played just the right amount of mother and stranger to the children under her care to balance the overwhelmed documentary look.

Dialogues that sometimes seem vague and indistinct however works when holistically reviewed in retrospect, this film depicts realism at its more visually graphic nature than being dialogue-driven.

Life and death, living and barely surviving, are among the films' undoubtedly emotionally engaging issues that never fail to amuse especially non-Indonesians.

A well-deserved standing ovation for Christine Hakim and Garin Nugroho.