Try Harder!

Set at a top-ranked public high school in San Francisco, the film explores such issues as the stress put on students during said process and the intersectionality of how this affects kids from different backgrounds, including the children of immigrants...

It's a really well-crafted mix of the specific and the particular of the individual, and the larger. universal story of how screwed up the college admissions system have gotten.

This smart, savvy documentary does a great job in putting faces and stories behind students who are seen as computers.

Quiet yet assertive, "Try Harder!" itself succeeds at not trying too hard.

An interesting film about how kids pursue things without knowing why, at its best when occasionally digging deeper into issues of race, stereotypes, and privilege.

It's a very funny movie about a bunch of students trying to find their way through a system that is designed to keep them out rather than let them in.

"Try Harder!" is a funny, moving, and surprisingly joyful look at that moment in your life where the world seems both terrifying and full of possibilities. It may even help its audience to look back on that period with more affection.

Parents and teens should watch this film together, encourage their PTSAs to host screenings and discussions, and internalize the messages about the ludicrous amount of pressure that so many high achieving students feel to go to the same 20 colleges.

Try Harder!...is never anything less than whipsmart.

(Director Debbie) Lum is as fascinated with these students as we are, taking us on a journey good for the soul, the heart, and the mind.