Try Harder!

Try Harder! begins with an appealing promise: Debbie Lum will treat its documentary framework as a route into character rather than an excuse for noise. The early chemistry between Ian Wang and Rachael Schmidt gives Try Harder! an immediate pulse. The story of Try Harder! begins from a specific pressure point: Seniors at one the best public high schools in the country face the pressure of applying to elite colleges. By the end of its 1h 25m running time, the value of Try Harder! rests less on novelty than on the care of its execution.

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Rather than summarise every event in Try Harder!, it is enough to note how Seniors places the central character under growing pressure. Ian Wang gives that tension a face, which stops Try Harder! from becoming a mechanical sequence of developments. Spencer Nakasako uses an important relationship to widen the stakes of Try Harder! without losing sight of the original problem. Where a difficult choice becomes predictable, Try Harder! recovers interest through the consequences surrounding it.

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The directorial personality of Try Harder! comes from Debbie Lum remaining careful about tone and generally effective when the premise invites excess. Within Try Harder!, Debbie Lum repeatedly favours readable choices over attention seeking flourishes. That discipline explains why the film delivers more often than it misses in Try Harder! rather than appearing only in isolated scenes. Where Try Harder! becomes less convincing, the middle loses a little urgency, and the loss of control is noticeable without becoming fatal.

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The thematic thread that gives Try Harder! weight is the tension between public stories and private experience. Ian Wang grounds that thread so Try Harder! never has to choose completely between entertainment and reflection. A recurring focus on the central character gives the ideas in Try Harder! enough dramatic pressure to matter. Under Debbie Lum, Try Harder! works best when viewers are invited to notice the theme before any character explains it.

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Performance is the clearest human asset in Try Harder!, beginning with the committed centre provided by Ian Wang. Rachael Schmidt keeps Try Harder! from settling into one emotional register by approaching the material from another angle. The presence of Shealand Fairchild gives the surrounding world of Try Harder! additional texture without distracting from the main line. When Debbie Lum holds on a reaction, Try Harder! communicates more efficiently than another explanatory exchange could manage.

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A close look at Try Harder! reveals how patient observation carries information that the dialogue wisely leaves alone. Under the production banner of California Council for the Humanities, Try Harder! treats patient observation as part of its storytelling grammar. Carefully chosen testimony gives Try Harder! a stronger sense of place within its United States context. The technical departments of Try Harder! remain coordinated, so polish supports involvement instead of creating distance.

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For viewers who enjoy thoughtful factual storytelling, Try Harder! is ultimately a likeable film whose strengths survive its limitations. Its most persuasive combination brings Ian Wang together with carefully chosen testimony under the direction of Debbie Lum. The fact that the middle loses a little urgency prevents Try Harder! from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, Try Harder! has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.