The Fallout

The Fallout should be another coming-of-age movie where nothing much happens beyond a young woman exploring her sexuality. Admittedly, an above average one, but one of a larger subgenre nonetheless. But The Fallout is a coming-of-age movie interrupted. This film is about a teenager whose school is the site of a school shooting. This is a difficult, sensitive topic. Personally, I think that writer/director Megan Park did an exceptional job in depicting it.

Vada is a more or less normal teen girl. She’s got a pre-teen sister named Amelia who is more interested in performing teen girl femininity than Vada is. At school, Vada has a best friend named Nick and she might have a crush on dancer and popular girl, Mia. Vada and Mia are in the bathroom when a classmate enacts an all-too-common massacre on the school. In the aftermath, Vada is understandably shaken and traumatized. Her parents do well in communicating and sending her to therapy. But all of that doesn’t compare to the trauma Vada experienced. She and Mia grow closer after this event. And Mia has absent parents. While taking steps towards moving past the event, Vada and Mia engage in some less than healthy coping mechanisms free from the observation of concerned adults.

Megan Park is an extraordinary talent when it comes to writing young women. The Fallout makes heavy use of social media and slang in how its young people communicate. What Park does that’s so different and special is that she portrays these youthful ways of communicating without judgment. The trauma these young people experience is beyond the telling. And young as they are, Vada and her classmates can only use the communication skills they have to deal with this. This means slang and digital communication are a primary way of discussing a very serious topic. As school shootings regrettably affect young people the most, it is important that depictions meet actual young people where they’re at instead of expecting more from them or judging their youthful style of dealing and communicating.

Likewise, the film doesn’t overly judge Mia though she is largely a negative presence in Vada’s life. It’s understandable why as characters, Vada’s parents wouldn’t like Mia. But as a film, The Fallout gives grace to Mia as someone dealing with an identical problem to Vada with significantly less support. There is nuance and empathy to all core characters. This sets Mia in specific apart from being yet another bad influence young woman who also happens to be the nexus point for the film’s queerness.

At this point, most fiction is too scared to deal with the topic of school shootings head-on. Even The Fallout doesn’t deal with it as directly as it could. Vada and Mia hear, rather than see the attack which means us as an audience experience the same. There are tragedies within tragedies when a shooting happens. One of them is that Vada could be considered lucky in this event as she wasn’t injured and only heard rather than saw it occur. But even she is of course, profoundly affected by it. Of course, Vada lives through the event. But there is still profound tragedy in how this event derails the youthful years of a vibrant young woman. Vada could not possibly be the same person on the same trajectory after such an event. And despite her “luck”, this is a tragedy too.

In addition to writing, Park directs the hell out of this movie. Even if this was a coming of age film that didn’t deal with such heavy themes, the directing would make it distinctly above average. Park is able to have a scene of two girls texting each other while lying in bed. And through use of close-ups, editing and performance, this scene of minimal action becomes gripping and emotional. In general, Park allows her characters to be a slightly more interesting version of a realistic teen. And likewise, her depiction of teen years is something I see as relatable though much better shot than reality.

One criticism I read of The Fallout which I cannot shake is that this is a story that didn’t need to be about a school shooting. It is about a teen girl who experiences trauma and reacts to said trauma. But this movie would play out nearly the same if that trauma was instead some sort of personal attack or death of a family member. I think The Fallout did well in depicting the specific topic of a school shooting with respect and how it allowed its characters to also exist beyond this event. But I also cannot shake this specific criticism as something worth exploring. Trauma manifests in similar ways regardless of trigger, but it is worth questioning what is added to the conversation if that trauma could be so easily replaced with something else.

Despite that last paragraph, I still come down extremely positively in regard to The Fallout. This is an incredibly sensitive and well-directed tragedy about specifically American teenagers. Megan Park really knows how to create a young female protagonist who is realistic, interesting, flawed and engaging to watch. This movie is also incredibly well-cast in its group of young performers lead by Jenna Ortega as Vada. This is a devastating film. One that elevates itself both with subject matter and pure quality above almost any other sapphic coming of age films.

Overall rating: 9.0/10

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