Nursery University

You think applying to Harvard is tough? Apparently, getting into an Ivy League college is a cakewalk compared with enrolling your three-year-old in one of Manhattan’s elite preschools. Credit director Marc H. Simon (and codirector Matthew Makar) for using several familial case studies—spread across New York’s class strata—to focus on how social factors come into play. Still, despite its behind-the-scenes peeks, the film would have benefited from a deeper examination of how these institutions prosper from parental paranoia run amok. Also, if anyone is teaching classes on avoiding toxically whimsical scores in nonfiction filmmaking, we highly suggest Simon & Co. sign up.