“Life’s f***ing hard.”
This line is spoken (and spoken several more times) in one of The Fallout’s many emotionally charged scenes. In the face of great tragedy, and trying to make sense of something that makes no sense, sometimes that’s the only response you’re left with. And that’s the situation high schooler Vada (Jenna Ortega) finds herself in here.
Vada is your typical teenager, car karaoke-ing her way to school with her best friend, calming down her younger sister who gets her first period at school. Normal teenage, big sister stuff. But then the day takes a turn, with something that has tragically become commonplace. Or at least commonplace enough to not be as shocking as it should be.
Vada is in the bathroom, and sees popular social media influencer Mia (Maddie Ziegler) putting some finishing touches on her makeup for school picture day. She texts her best friend Nick (Will Ropp); this is exactly the type of thing the two like to make fun of. Then there’s a noise, a bang. They can’t be certain that they heard what they think they heard. But then another shot rings out. And another and another. The two hide in a bathroom stall, soon joined by classmate Quinton (Niles Fitch). The three survive the day, but they’re forever changed.
While The Fallout’s inciting incident is a school shooting, it’s not necessarily a school shooting movie. It doesn’t try to provide answers to questions that can’t be answered in one 90 minute movie. There’s no preaching about gun violence and school safety – though that’s not left completely alone. Instead, it uses the shooting as the backdrop to explore grief and how everyone responds differently. There’s no “one size fits all” approach to dealing with and recovering from tragedy.
Vada struggles to reconcile her reactions to those of her friends and classmates. Nick puts all his energy and free time into activism, championing gun reform. But Vada feels nothing. She’s numbed herself to the pain, not allowing herself to work through the very real, very complex emotions. This alienates her from Nick, who can’t understand her (lack of) response to everything. To cope, Vada does what so many do in similar situations. She experiments. With drinking, drugs, sex, anything to make her feel something.
The Fallout is filled with great performances. Maddie Ziegler shows that Music was likely just an outlier, as she perfectly channels the energy of the popular-on-the-outside-but-actually-lonely “it girl.” Julie Bowen and John Ortiz eat up their little bits of screen time as Vada’s parents. They perhaps didn’t directly experience the same tragedy, but seeing your child go through something like this is tragic in its own right. Shailene Woodley pops in for a couple understated, but no less effective, scenes as Vada’s therapist.
And everyone there is great, and the movie isn’t the same without them. But there are two stars here. Jenna Ortega and writer-director Megan Park (in her feature debut as both a writer and director). Ortega delivers nothing short of a powerhouse performance. Vada is a complicated character, and Ortega has complete control over her. It’s masterful.
Park matches her step for step from behind the scenes. She directs with a sure and gentle hand, showing keen understanding and empathy for the story she created. Her script is equally strong. The Fallout obviously deals with very heavy themes, and she doesn’t shy away from that. But she balances the weight of it all with a handful of perfectly-placed jokes and other moments of levity.
And Park perhaps saves her best flourish for the end, reminding everyone once again, life’s f***ing hard.
Score: 93/100
