The Fallout

The Fallout is important. It highlights an urgent (yet neglected) topic responsibly. Nothing is glamorized, sanitized, or insincere. Covering the psychological effects of school shootings, the film focuses on the resulting emotional journeys rather than the violent incident. Subjects of mental health, communication, coping, and support are authentically addressed. This material isn't flashy, but the experience is thoroughly captivating and enlightening. Central to that is the delicate acting of the entire cast (especially Ortega). Nobody is overdramatic, everyone is layered and conflicted, and everything is genuine and natural. Truly, the emotional impact cannot be overstated.

Meanwhile, the filmmaking of The Fallout is grounded, yet lightly artistic. The music is primarily silent, allowing feelings to breathe. The cinematography uses spacing and motion to reflect mental states. The gentle editing emphasizes the acting, yet is stylistic at turning points. The realistic sound carries weight because climatic moments occur offscreen. Lastly, the direction unites the film into a cohesive, bittersweet journey of nuance. Each beat is perfectly placed and each aspect is masterfully measured. The Fallout covers significant ground, but maintains a heartfelt focus. Viewers may not be ready for where it's going, but everyone will grow from the experience.

Writing: 10/10 Direction: 9/10 Cinematography: 9/10 Acting: 9/10 Editing: 9/10 Sound: 9/10 Score/Soundtrack: 9/10 Production Design: 7/10 Casting: 7/10 Effects: 6/10

Overall Score: 8.4/10.

I can't imagine how scary and traumatize it is for teenagers these days to go to school, especially in America. School should be a safe place for everyone. These children should not living in fear everytime they went to school.

8/10 - strong acting performances from Jenna Ortega, Will Ropp, Shailene Woodley (in her two brief but impactful scenes), and the rest of the cast bring to life this gripping, infuriating, and moving story of those affected by school shootings.

It'd been a while since a teen drama really got me pondering, but then I watched The Fallout. It's a small but profoundly layered film, powered by a solid lead performance from Jenna Ortega. Megan Park's debut feature film is striking and centers around the survivors of a high-school shooting incident. The screenplay works as a contemporary character study, going into the itsy bitsy details of a high-school teenager's life in the aftermath of the said pivotal incident. Vada (Ortega), a tomboy with introverted inclinations, is perplexed at the way everything suddenly changes for her, and the film showcases her struggles (and occasional highs) poignantly. It's almost like Megan Park extensively studied how Gen Z-ers speak, organically incorporating dialogues into the script.

The don't-know-what-to-do mom (Julie Bowen) and bewildered sister characters are also given due importance as they're significant to the progress that Vada makes each day. Their performances are also brilliant. I also enjoyed how Vada has a varying but relatable dynamic between herself and each family member, and writer-director Park ensures she gets very emotional, very grounded scenes with each. Vada's accidental friendship with the uber-popular Mia (Maddie Ziegler) gets the lion's share of the screenplay, showcasing how little joys and wins are so important. In fact, except for the therapy session scenes featuring Shailene Woodley, I wholly enjoyed the film. It was like a breath of fresh air, even though it revolves around a tragedy.

The opening sequence of 'The Fallout' is very well done. It's powerful, tense and all too real unfortunately. From there the films fall into a quite sombre look at the anxiety and depression caused by such a tragedy. It's a tough watch at times but an important one also.

Jenna Ortega seems to be the "IT" girl at the moment. She's in everything seemingly and it's not hard to understand why. She is extremely likeable and seems to have the full arsenal available in her acting talents. Without a strong lead a film like this could be a very unpleasant watch. She ensured that was not the case.

I love films where the family dynamic is handled in a positive way. I understand not every family out there is as great as we'd like to imagine, and it's often an easy way for a film to create conflict by using a dysfunctional family. However I think the majority of families out there are extremely supportive like the ones in 'The Fallout'. And even when a family is doing everything they can to help there can still be conflict apparent as this film proved.

The ending of this film is a tough one. It's tough and it's heart-breaking but it is also the absolute perfect ending for a film like this because it is real. Any other ending would have been a cop-out.

There are little patches of the film that can come across a little dull and boring and that's one of the flaws of the film. Those scenes are often setting things up for the future though, and also watching a character struggling with depression can't always be a fun or enjoyable ride or else you've portrayed it wrong.

This is a good film. Don't go in expecting anything other than a pretty gritty drama though. There is the odd funny moment but for the most part it's a very serious film. 7/10.