The Fallout

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Fallout follows high schooler Vada and her emotional recovery after surviving a school shooting. This film is a powerful investigation into how gun violence can affect young people in schools and the trauma that being a survivor of such an incident entails. I really loved how strongly this feature presented its themes while telling such a personal and complex character story. This film focuses on Vada and paints her in such a realistic light that I couldn't help but be impressed. This is a role with dialogue I could see coming out of a high schooler's mouth, her language was never matured up for scenes with adults, often the language felt very random and slang-heavy. This really powerful use of grounded dialogue is a shining example of why this is one of the better coming of age films I've seen in years and definitely one of the better depictions of a modern high schooler. What this film has to say about mental health and how we recover is significantly profound, watching these young people grapple with the severity of surviving an attack upon their school only makes it all the more signifcant. The difficulty of trying to recover is a different journey depending on the character; in Vada we really see her shut down to certain people, live in fear of going to her school and grow extremely confused by her friendships and relationships. Her initial resistance to therapy and subsequent dependency on alcohol and drugs to get through an ordinary day is intimidating to watch. These characters are endearing people, you want to shelter them from these events but you can't; as the film indicates they have to find that road to recovery in their own way with their support network. Yet the strength of this film is in how it ends, that shattering moment in which we come to understand how Vada will always be impacted by this event and how many more events like it there will be. It's a message well worth reflecting upon in this day and age.

 

Megan Park has such an intimate style that perfectly suits this style of storytelling. I was really impressed with how the visual language seemed to focus on a character's inner struggle via close ups, as well as their reactions to the messages they receive via social media. In fact the way this film highlights phone conversations might just be the best way I've ever seen it done in a film. The text dialogue is really powerful when coupled with the visual impact of the recipient's reactions. Finneas O'Connell's score is quite a melodic, reflective piece that moves in harmony with Vada's own struggles; the soundtrack also has this indie pop quality that suits the film's younger protagonists.

 

One of the best performances in the film comes from leading protagonist Jenna Ortega, who played Vada Cavell. Ortega is nothing short of one of the more spectacular up and coming actors I've seen over the past year; seeing her in Scream was a treat but this is easily her best work to date. Vada is such a grounded role with a quick wit coupled with extremely awkward energy. Ortega's portrayal of a young woman wrestling with the extreme feelings of fear, rage and depression is powerful to watch and throughout the feature she is expanding her range before your very eyes. Her chemistry with Ziegler is extremely moving, and I liked seeing their friendship grow, intertwine and even become messy. The last time I saw a tragic coming of age film this good was probably Edge Of Seventeen, with then up and comer Hailee Steinfeld. 'Nuff said.

 

Some of the other powerful performances in this piece came from Maddie Ziegler, playing Mia Reed, an extremely popular Instagram influencer who had to cope with the fallout of the shooting by herself until she befriended Ortega's Vada. The friendship and romance that grew between these two is one of the defining character arcs of the film and a joy to see unfold. Niles Fitch, who played Quinton Hasland, gives the extremely moving portrayal of losing a sibling and directly surviving a confrontation with the gunman; the way he carries around his grief is quite subtle and very real. Lumi Pollack, who played Amelia Cavell, has some of the funniest dialogue in the feature; her vulnerability around the distance that grows between her and her on-screen sister is very moving to watch. John Ortiz and Julie Bowen, who played Carlos Cavell and Patricia Cavell respectively, really suit the types of parents they are portraying. Ortiz has this quiet manner to him but really knows how to let his emotions out to help his daughter, while Bowen plays a more anxious figure who stumbles her way through her daughter's recovery in a well meaning attempt to help.

 

Some of the struggles this film faces are chiefly in the second act where the only action is Vada's introspective moments but little else within the plot is advancing. There really needed to be a bit more to either tighten up that second act or make some of those scenes hit with a little more weight. I also felt like the film fumbled with the final scene between Vada and her mother, Patricia, basically taking the emotion out of the scene for a half-hearted joke about Mum needing a drink of wine to get through discovering her daughter's secrets.

 

There were some performances in the film that I don't think worked as well as they could've. Will Ropp, who played Nick Feinstein, really needed a few more scenes to make us see the connection between him and Ortega before rippiong them apart; Ropp's intensity around the shooting feels unearned and this is really due to the script not really knowing how to place him in the narrative. I also felt that Shailene Woodley, who played Anna, was a big splash of star power that was wasted in this film. Woodley's role was quite stoic and neutral, I never really saw her as an individual who could help or guide our protagonist through her complex emotions.

This is an unrelenting coming of age story that really reflects powerfully upon the impact of gun violence in America and its impact on our younger generations. I would give The Fallout a 9/10.