The Grand Jury award for this year’s SXSW went to The Fallout, a film that takes your typical coming-of-age story and re-tells it through a traumatic lens. With Jenna Ortega carrying the entire weight of the story on her shoulders, this feature directorial debut by Megan Park is an honest, devastating portrait of a reality so many teenagers are experiencing today in America – trying to move on after surviving a school shooting.
Before the event, we’re already given enough about what Ortega’s Vada is like, from her large T-shirts to her Gen-Z lingo with her classmates and younger sister Amelia (Lumi Pollack). She’s happy, doing well, and is at that part of her life where she wants to figure out who she wants to be and what she wants to do. And all it takes is six minutes of a psychopath wielding an assault rifle on campus to change everything.
Spending Time with Survivors
The crux of The Fallout, given by its title, is to spend time with Vada and her fellow classmates who survived the horrible event. Some are able to take their trauma and channel it into something productive and revolutionary, to enact social change. Others just shut down completely and become numb to feelings and connections.
It is here where Vada begins to bond with other side characters like Mia (Maddie Ziegler), a popular schoolgirl with a large following on Instagram, and Quinton (Niles Fitch), another survivor who witnessed his brother gunned down. Park insists that we spend time with these people, to truly be with them as the days and nights go by. It becomes clear that when your emotions enter a perpetual limbo, there is no sense of time and what day it is anymore. Many things are put on hold, and we go from living every day to just… existing.
It’s All Intimately Filmed with Restraint
As the film progresses, Ortega demonstrates an incredible talent at conveying those conflicting emotions, all while bouncing back and forth off of different characters. She shares an intimate chemistry with Ziegler on one end, while her energetic and talkative relationship with her sister and her parents (Julie Bowen and John Ortiz) has now dissipated.
Alongside the honest performances is the careful, intimate direction by Park, who knows when to employ the wide shots for a moment of peace and when to choose handheld close-ups to give us even more access to Vada. Sometimes we feel privileged to have this opportunity since it’s a closer chance for us to see how she’s doing and if she’s okay. Other times, the experience just feels intrusive – a fantastic juggling act.
Even the more conventional parts of the script, where we are reminded that The Fallout is also a coming-of-age story, are given a bit more weight because of what has happened to these characters. It may seem like tonal whiplash to some viewers, but that very well may be the reality for most young adults. The one-liners here are sharp and the lighter moments in the film that involve weed and sexuality land quite well. It’s largely thanks to Ortega for having that range, to begin with.
On the contrary, there are a couple of moments that brought up interesting ideas that I wished the script explored a bit more. Vada’s relationship with her best friend Nick (Will Ropp), for example, goes in such a fascinating direction that I wished he were in the movie more, especially since the opening scene sets us up into thinking Nick is the secondary character in the story. Another subplot involves a therapist (Shailene Woodley), who asks Vada plenty of questions and gives her mental exercises to do for herself. In this particular case, having more of Woodley or not at all would greatly improve the flow of the film – I do prefer having more.
The Fallout: Coming-of-Age Told Through a Traumatic Lens
From its terrifying opening all the way to its devastating ending, which is the only possible ending this film could have, The Fallout deserves immediate attention. It’s an honest portrait of trauma interwoven with a tale of starting over and rebuilding oneself. Even though it’s very much Vada’s story, it’s also about the people around her and how they are also affected. Bowen, Ortiz, and Pollack all get their respective chances to shine.
The heavy subject matter is one that is difficult to talk about or experience in films, but it’s a conversation that we all need to have. Meanwhile, Jenna Ortega and Megan Park are well on their way to tell more powerful stories and forge incredible careers.
Did you see The Fallout? What did you think of the film? Share below!
The Fallout premiered at SXSW 2021 on March 17th, 2021.
Watch The Fallout
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