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I am an English and Film major, cinephile, and aspiring writer! When I'm not buried in school work and lectures, I'm usually in the depths of streaming services and their plethora of film options. Or reading.
Megan Park makes her awarding-winning directorial debut with The Fallout, a teen coming-of-age dramedy about the hardships of growing up, building relationships, and the aftermath of a traumatic event. Now streaming on HBO Max, the film explores another perspective of dealing with grief, that is, through the awkward voice of modern Gen-Z teenagers.
Vada Cavell (Jenna Ortega) starts her usual morning being nagged by her Influencer-esque little sister Amelia (Lumi Pollack) then is picked up by her best friend Nick Feinstein (Will Ropp) where they jam out to Juice WRLD in his car on their way to school. Everything starts out normal, and possibly mundane until Vada takes a bathroom break where she runs into social media famous Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler) touching up her makeup in the bathroom mirror. Park cleverly sets the scene with quietness and calm background noises — urination and texting — only to attack the sound barriers with gunshots from the hallway. What once started out as a normal day at school for normal teenagers, quickly turns into a life-changing event for everyone there.
Vada and Mia hide in a bathroom stall together, concealing noise and panic as the shooter continues their spree just outside the door. They’re quickly joined by another student, Quinton Hasland (Niles Fitch), shirt drenched in what we can only assume to be his brother’s blood as he cries out for him. The transition from normalcy to terror is reflected through the characters and the actors’ talent in showcasing the daunting fear of being in the middle of a school shooting. From this event, Vada and all of her friends try to cope and deal with the trauma, and they all struggle with it in their own ways.
Nick ponders the reason for his own survival and turns it into an activism opportunity. Quinton, though only seen from time to time, is left to grieve the loss of his brother with his family. The story seems to focus more on Vada and how she faces the trauma by dealing with it quietly with her new friend, Mia. We learn that despite the situation, Mia lives a lonely life herself. With her dad’s traveling for work all the time and with friends she can only describe as “different groups of people,” she really just needs a friend to understand on her level.
The Fallout is ultimately meant for the world, but Park wrote well to cater to a much younger audience while still maintaining the sincerity and message of the film. The execution of Gen-Z’s lingo and mannerisms weren’t too overbearing. I only mildly cringed at the vocal “LOLs” only to realize that I, too, unironically do that myself. Park offers a refreshing perspective from a generation notorious for masking their true feelings with humor. The emotions are outwardly diluted but evident through Vada’s slow breakdown.
Vada builds new friendships and temporarily breaks existing ones. She tries alcohol and smokes marijuana for the first time. She even loses her virginity and goes to therapy! In no particular order. All while struggling with her own mental health (or lack of acknowledging she has issues) during the aftermath of an event people her age tragically experience around America. Although it’s told in a fictional setting and timeline, it’s mirrored to a very unfortunate reality. Park comments on the matter in her tear-jerking, laugh-inducing debut film.
In reference to the ending, although Vada seems to have mended her friendship with Mia and relationship with her mother, there is still no absolute resolution to the narrative. Vada exchanges a funny thread text with Mia while waiting outside of a dance studio when she gets a news notification of another school shooting in the country. There is no happy ending because the dark reality of America’s problems still looms over us.
The Fallout‘s ending grasps the anxiety young people experience today: the real scope of the issue. As Vada experiences something more personal and local in this film, the ending exposes the scope of the problem and how it’s present in other places than in her own personal reality.
I applaud Megan Park for her honest and vulnerable approach to this film. I also believe you will be seeing more of the rising star, Jenna Ortega, on your screen in the future.
I am an English and Film major, cinephile, and aspiring writer! When I'm not buried in school work and lectures, I'm usually in the depths of streaming services and their plethora of film options. Or reading.
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