Concept: In a Turkish city, the leader of a group of impoverished waste pickers discovers a child in one of their sacks.

• • A well-made, insightful movie that provides a deep, humanizing perspective into those people who live at the fringes of our society struggling to survive.
  • It gives what feels like a very authentic look at the people who try to eke out a living collecting recyclable items from trash—what kinds of backgrounds they have, where they come from, and how they interact, help each other, and sometimes hurt each other.
  • The actor playing the role of the waste picker leader gives an Oscar-worthy performance, and the boy is quite charismatic.
  • The cinematography is excellent, finding a certain beauty in the ugliness of the surrounding poverty.
  • The story, supporting actors, and all else come together very well.
  • Viewed on an Optoma HD28DSE projector, 92” screen, Netflix on Roku. There must have been at least a dozen noticeable instances of motion judder in the first half of the movie. As mentioned in other reviews, I only see such behavior with the combination of Netflix and Roku. I’m going to try projecting from my Amazon Cube next time I see a movie on Netflix and see if it’s the Roku that’s causing the trouble. (Update: It was.) Besides that, the movie looked great on the projector.
  • Not for kids.

Paper Lives (2021) 85%