The Fallout

It’s a remarkable accomplishment: a film with the confidence to pose big questions, and the humility to leave them unanswered.

Mainly Park lets her actors interact, their humor deadpan, their pain unfathomable, their hormones surging and their flirtations halting.

While The Fallout allows for lightness to occasionally emerge, the film never forgets the experience at its center, one that can never be fully forgotten.

Grief and trauma don't provide easy answers and The Fallout doesn't either. But it does take viewers on a poignant journey right alongside its heroine. It can be heavy, but it can also hold moments of humor and joy.

Writer-director Megan Park’s unassuming feature debut sensitively argues that young people should never have to face such horrific circumstances — but, given enough time, they can prove stronger than their concerned parents imagine.

With a firm handle on tone, Park skirts the pitfalls of bad taste one might expect from a film that uses mass violence as a narrative device for a coming-of-age plot.

These young performers are always true to themselves. Honest and bare without inhibitions. Which is fitting for a movie that’s about rebuilding oneself and one’s connections to the world by telling yourself that the pain is okay. The hurt is real. And the love we give never dies. Park’s The Fallout is a resilient character study of grief in all its forms.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Stories about school shootings in the U.S. has almost become a genre in itself. Beyond the sad reality of what it represents, these stories sometimes also present an excellent opportunity to try to understand the trauma it embodies for the survivors. The Fallout in my opinion does not represent something new under the perspective it presents, in fact if there was something that I disliked a lot is that in many moments it seems to have borrowed too much from Euphoria, the HBO series. Not that it supposes to claim originality in a story like this, but I don't like being played so predictably either. What I appreciate about its director's approach is that she avoids showing violence altogether. And the film doesn't shies away from it, but it really didn't need it. The honesty of the emotional wounds is what this film it's all about and The Fallout gets it right by showing it in a way that feels genuine, regardless of each viewer's reading of it. After all, each and every one of us deals with things in our own way. The ending is quite sad and almost cruel, but not because it intends to be, but because at the same time it represents what is perhaps the worst characteristic that can be reached when it comes to a conclusion in a story like this. The shootings will continue to happen, thousands upon thousands of lives will be ****, but the rest of society will just shrug its shoulders and move on as long as the tragedy doesn't touch their own.

While accurately depicting the emotional struggles aspect, the protagonist Vada's resort to drugs, sex and booze to make peace with her personal sufferings seem a bit over-stretched. Writer and Director Megan Parker intends to make us feel, but hinders some narrative development that could've been more powerful if dialogue is more constructive rather than using vices as fillers.

Maybe I'm getting old myself or something, but based on the reviews I expected something between Van Sants masterpiece and a more clear cut telling of such a tragedy , Eight Grade ish . But the modern HBO ultra woke vibe (not to be confused with pre 2015 HBO which could be fearless and great ) , I was quickly checking out . What annoys me most is the way there seems to be a checklist in these movies , in their modern urban English , a literal checklist. Some gay bestie, some poor minority victims , some dreams of becoming hip-hop dancing insta queens , if actual suburban American teens are like this. Ouch. At least Euphoria is entertaining while doing this. Now HBO, make me a movie about one of those attacks on Synagogues , or one with a trans attacker (as seen in real life ) , would make original films. But on a quintessential high school shooting we already have Elephant , which was a masterpiece basically. Way beyond modern films now

I tried this movie because I enjoyed Jenna Ortega’s wonderful performance in Wednesday and I wanted to check out some of her other work. I didn’t get 10 minutes into this movie. I despise movies and shows where the characters engage in mundane tasks like brushing their teeth, preparing food, and driving. It’s just pointless filler material that does not progress the story. Sure, if the movie is about a dentist, or a chef or a taxi driver, then you expect such scenes. But if said scenes are not relevant to the plot then they are pointless filler. This movie started with all three and the driving scene also included horrid music. I turned it off. I’m not into horror so I’ll have to wait until Wednesday season two.