Debbie Lum talks about filming Try Harder!, what it's like to "return" to the hallowed halls of Lowell High School for longer than it takes to actually go through high school, and how these students break free from stereotypes about Asian Americans.
Try Harder! Review: Endearing, Alarming Doc on Senior-Year College-Application Hope and Heartbreak
The agonies and ecstasies of a high-achieving majority Asian-American senior class during a cutthroat college application season.
Jessica Kiang, provided by
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Running time: Running time: 84 MIN
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
“You get used to feeling mediocre,” says one of the merely very bright students in a school full of what he considers “geniuses.” “Try Harder,” Debbie Lum’s simultaneously charming and chastening documentary on the senior class in Lowell High the majority Asian-American, top-ranked school in San Francisco takes its cue from its lovable, dorky, high-achieving subjects and mostly remains in a cheerful register, heroizing a group rarely celebrated in high school movies: the good kids.