"I feel mad. Because I had no idea one guy with a gun could come in and fuck up my life so hard in six minutes."
— Vada
The Fallout is a 2021 drama film starring Jenna Ortega. It is the feature directorial debut of Megan Park and was scored by Finneas O'Connell.
Vada Cavell (Ortega) is a high school student with a regular life. She has a set of Good Parents, Carlos (John Ortiz) and Patricia (Julie Bowen), an Annoying Younger Sibling, Amelia (Lumi Pollack), and a best friend, Nick (Will Ropp).
One day, Vada goes to the restroom in the middle of class to call Amelia. And then a school shooting happens.
The film examines the emotional fallout in the months following the incident. As Nick becomes an overnight activist for gun control, Vada withdraws from him and her family and instead forms unlikely bonds with the schoolmates trapped with her in the bathroom — Mia (Maddie Ziegler), a dancer and influencer, and Quinton (Niles Fitch), whose brother died in the shooting.
The Fallout debuted at SXSW on March 17, 2021. It was released on HBO Max on January 27, 2022.
No relation to the book of the same name, Fallout, or Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Vada and Mia have sex, and while Vada makes some overtures towards Quinton, Mia never shows explicit attraction to guys. However, it remains unclear what either's sexual orientation is, because they're still young and may be just figuring things out.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Amelia's extraverted, Type-A, influencer-in-training personality is a stark contrast to her moody, traumatized older sister, who would rather not deal with her.
- Axes at School: The film deals with the aftermath of a school shooting, which is shown offscreen in the first act.
- Bittersweet Ending: Vada resolves to be more in touch with her emotions in order to properly process what happened. She starts opening up to her family once again and begins to form genuine connection with Mia that doesn't revolve around shared trauma and substance abuse. However, she and Nick are still on the outs, and Vada isn't sure if they can have their old friendship back. Furthermore, the film ends on a panic attack after she gets a news notification about another school shooting, showing that her grief isn't linear and that such events will keep happening.
- Cathartic Scream: Vada's father takes her to a deserted hill where they can scream out their frustrations about the shooting and its aftermath.
- Commonality Connection: Up until the first shots are fired, Vada was making fun of Mia for being an influencer. And then they're stuck together in a bathroom stall throughout the ordeal and bond over their trauma afterwards.
- Drugs Are Bad: Vada's tripping on ecstasy at school alternates almost seamlessly between humorous and scary; she feels lighthearted and free in class but also has difficulty with basic tasks like getting down the stairs and carrying on a conversation with Nick. It's easy to laugh as she slides down the stairs on her back, but when Nick rushes up to her and sees her lying down with a face full of what he doesn't know is ink, it's also a little terrifying.
- First Period Panic: Played for Drama. Early in the film, Vada's middle-schooler sister Amelia texts her in a panic because she got her first period. In order to handle it, Vada goes to the bathroom — and she's there when the shooting begins. Amelia thinks Vada is angry at her for most of the film because Vada blames her for making her leave the classroom, putting her in more danger than if she'd stayed put. Vada has to clarify that it's not the case.
- Good Parents: The Cavells are extremely understanding of Vada's emotional struggles and try their best to give her space while nudging her along to recovery. The only time they are visibly upset at her is when she was AWOL for a whole night, which is completely understandable.
- I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Vada and Mia lose their virginities to each other, but later Vada admits that she doesn't want to destroy the bond they have. Mia is all right with that and we next see Vada coming to Mia's dance class.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Near the end of the film Vada unloads the fact that she has been drinking, doing drugs, and having sex with a girl all at once on her mother. Patricia's response is to down a glass of wine and then going to have a more in-depth conversation with her daughter.
- Innocently Insensitive: Vada and Quinton are having a good time watching TV and movies, but she starts talking about a true crime documentary about murder and doesn't seem to clue in quickly enough that the topic is bumming out Quinton, whose brother was recently murdered.
- Last Day of Normalcy: The opening is this for Vada – grumpily rolling out of bed, struggling to make it to school on time, goofing off with her friend Nick, attending class. Then the bullets start flying.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Implied to be the case with Mia, whose rich parents leave her alone in their big house most of the time. When Vada asks her who she hangs out with, Mia gives a non-answer, and we don't see any other kind of support system in place for her besides Vada.
- Minimalist Cast: Vada, her parents and sister, Mia, Nick, Quinton, Anna the therapist and a teacher are the only speaking characters who appear in more than one scene, and even then, the therapist and the teacher only appear in two scenes. The only other speaking character is a drug dealer.
- Minor Living Alone: Mia's fathers are usually traveling abroad and leave her alone in their large California house.
- Nice Girl:
- Vada is this to a tee, especially in the beginning. She's pleasant, funny and a polite student in class. Even after the shooting, she only really has one argument with her parents and it's relatively tame. She attends every funeral for the victims and ensures she's reaching out to Quinton and offering him support.
- Mia is this as well, perhaps subverting the stereotype that she's an Alpha Bitch. The only thing we really know about her before the shooting is that she's an influencer and dresses very feminine, but she's very friendly with Vada and tries to make her feel comfortable.
- Vada's therapist Anna is very compassionate and understanding, sincerely trying to help Vada cope with an incredibly traumatic experience.
- No Antagonist: Even Matt Corman, the shooter, is not really the antagonist as he's arrested in the first 15 minutes of the movie and is never seen onscreen. It's solely about Vada and her peers trying to move on from the event.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The actual shooting takes place entirely off screen with only the sounds of gunfire heard.
- Potty Emergency: Played for drama. After a day of holding her bladder because she's afraid to go back to the school washroom, Vada is triggered by the sound of a student crushing a soda can and immediately pees herself out of fear.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Vada and Mia kiss, then as it begins to get more intense with Vada getting on top of her, the scene ends. It cuts to Vada waking up the next day in Mia's bed, and confirmed later that they had sex.
- The Shrink: Anna, Vada's therapist, is very definitely the "awesome" kind, being relatable, good-natured understanding and down to earth and doing her best to help Vada with an unimaginably traumatic experience and earning Vada's trust over time.
- Sound-Only Death: We only here sounds from the shooting — gunshots, people screaming, and eventually the police arriving to apprehend the shooter. The camera's focus is on the reactions of Vada, Mia, and Quinton in the bathroom.
- Their First Time: Mia and Vada lose their virginities to each other.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Vada is a tomboy with a sarcastic sense of humour and the only other friend we see onscreen at the beginning of the film is a boy. Mia is a dancer who wears a good deal of makeup, has a strong sense of fashion and loves wine.
- Trauma Button: Vada seems to have somewhat gotten over the school shooting by the end. When she sees breaking news about another school shooting in Ohio however, she sobs and gasps, having a panic attack.
- Unexpected Virgin: Vada is shocked to learn Mia is a virgin, because Mia seems sexual in her dancing. In this case, both girls are in high school where many if not most people would still be virgins, and the misconception is due to Vada's naivete more than anything.
- Unseen Evil: Matt Corman, the school shooter, is never shown onscreen.
