In Aysegül Savas's The Anthropologists, Asya, the novel's narrator, is a documentary filmmaker set to embark on a project based around the goings-on in her local park. Though not explicitly identified as such, Asya's project sounds a lot like "cinéma vérité," a style of filmmaking developed in the 1950s and '60s that aimed to capture life "as it is" by using authentic dialogue and natural action, often prioritizing ordinary people as subjects. By deliberately embracing spontaneity and eschewing carefully controlled narratives, the pioneers of cinéma vérité hoped to reveal deeper truths that could not be captured through traditional storytelling. This seems to be Asya's intent as well, since she does not have an aim with her film other than to show the ways that people live, and how they see their surroundings and themselves.

Cinéma vérité emerged as a response to conventional documentary filmmaking in the mid-20th century. At...