The film is based on true stories in the lives of three street boys in Yogyakarta who all die under tragic circumstances, and was played by the real street boys around the event location.
According to Stephen Holden in a review for The New York Times, Daun di Atas Bantal is a "documentary-flavored" film that does not attempt to make the viewer care for the characters; he describes it as being detached and loosely structured.