Review by
Musanna Ahmed
Directed by: Megan Park
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Maddie Ziegler, Niles Fitch, Will Ropp, Lumi Pollack, John
Ortiz, Julie Bowen, Shailene Woodley
There's a moment in The Fallout where Vada Cavell (Jenna Ortega), struggling with the traumatic aftermath of a school shooting, looks
simultaneously bored, numb and frustrated while listening to a teacher
lead a class on how to respond to an active attack. The big, bold
directives on the board read "Run Hide Fight."
These three words form the name of a recently released, poorly made movie
from right-wing provocateur Ben Shapiro’s production company The Daily
Wire, which was described by our critic as “one of the most morally
reprehensible movies I've had the misfortune to endure for quite some
time.” While
Run Hide Fight
was offensive and abhorrent in depicting how high school kids should
respond to such a distressing event, The Fallout is one of
the most sensitive, nuanced and compelling features centred on the issue.
It does not make the same mistake of drawing up an ugly handbook on what
to do and is instead focused on the day-to-day lives of those affected by
the tragedy.
The emotional journey is threaded across the connections between Jenna and
her friends and family, who are all impacted in various ways. The key
relationship to the film’s theme is between Jenna and her new friend Mia
Reed (Maddie Ziegler). At the outset of the film, the two are
together in the school’s restroom where Mia is applying makeup while a
beady-eyed Jenna texts her friends to talk about the girl applying so much
makeup. The subtext is clear: Jenna bitterly views this tall blonde girl
as the queen bee, her heightened self-esteem snapshotted in this moment.
They’re then drawn together in the face of death when flurries of gunshots
ring out. The pair jump in a cubicle together to hide until the emergency
stops. This shared moment manifests as an immediate bond and Jenna learns
that Mia’s public image is not her personal image as they get to know one
another, relishing each other’s company especially when they need an
outlet to discuss the traumas they now live with, including successive
nightmares. Through the strong relationship between Mia and Jenna, two
individuals who may never have been in the same orbit outside of school,
the message is clear: no matter our biological and sociological
differences, humans have a lot more in common with each other than we may
think, and we are stronger when we band together. It may sound trite or
platitudinous, but there are forces that try to divide people every day,
so the moral is vital.
And that’s just one strand of Jenna’s life: there’s also her unique
relationships with her parents (played by the wonderful
Julie Bowen and John Ortiz); her best friend Nick (Will Ropp); a boy called Quinton (Niles Fitch) who she met in the
neighbouring bathroom stall, where he fled with blood on his shirt after
trying to save his brother; and her therapist Anna (Shailene Woodley), who is obviously the most incisive in deconstructing PTSD. The study
of Jenna’s character remarkably captures the kaleidoscope of life after
such a tragedy: the emotional defeat, the seek for escapism, the moments
of joy found through intimate connection, the learning of gratitude.
Performances are terrific across the board, guided by Megan Park’s
talents as both an amazing writer and director. The filmmaker creates a
lot of room for her actors to explore and is seemingly generous around the
script – sometimes, the dialogue is so natural that it sounds improvised.
Ortega is sublime, particularly impressive to me because I just saw her
other new film, the Netflix comedy Yes Day, and recognise her great range as a performer across two very different
projects.
This is a very well-made film with a moving score by Billie Eilish’s
brother Finneas, an amazing talent in his own right, and effective use of
songs by Gen Z artists including Juice WRLD and Ashnikko. Great use of
lighting and close-ups express a striking cinematic look that melts the
dynamic, swirling cinematography of Trey Edwards Shults’s
Waves
with the documentary aesthetics of Friday Night Lights, both of which happen to be two of my favourite contemporary narratives
of American youth. The Fallout follows their lineage of
telling a remarkable story about an important modern subject through
amazing character work, topped off by the most crucial ending it could
have conceived.
The Fallout played online at the
SXSW Film Festival 2021.
