Try for You is a short-film, directed by Nathan Presley which was written, edited and shot in just 46 hours and tells a story of love, heartbreak and doubt.

The film begins when two ex-lovers accidentally accidentally bump into each other on a street, and while the viewer isn’t previously told of the past relationship, through the performances of both the unnamed lead female (Gloria Cole) and male (James Norely) the film subtly hints at the viewer, of an unsuccessful relationship as eye contact is failed to be held more than a few seconds, and dialogue between the pair is awkward and sparse. However, despite only a small amount of dialogue within the conversation, we are told a lot about these two characters, specifically the failure of becoming a musician which the lead female feels despite now having a successful career. This theme of music is then seeded throughout the film as Gloria Coles character dusts of an unused keyboard, to perform a song, alone in her bedroom, which relates to the title of the film where the only lines sung are ‘I know I should have tried for you’. Throughout the singing, clips of the pairs past relationship are shown to the viewer, these flashbacks are filmed using a warm colour palette, which directly clash with the dark muted colours of the present. This shows the doubt within our character’s mind, and her regret of leaving the relationship, which is pushed even further by the contents of these flashbacks, which show fears of possible problems within the relationship, such as alcoholism, however the directors choice to show this from one point of view, presents that maybe these were just quick assumptions made by the character that lead to the downfall of the relationship. Try for You ends with the pressing of a wrong key, which draws a parallel to the relationship and the fact that maybe she was wrong herself.

While, Try for You could be described as a music video due to half of the film containing a performance of a song with clips scattered throughout it, I believe the subtlety and simple nature of the film clash well with the complex theme of love, allowing a film that is open to interpretation, just like a past-relationship.