GASOLINE RAINBOW - Mark Reviews Movies

Gsoline Rainbow, Mubi

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 9, 2024

While likely not a documentary, Gasoline Rainbow possesses a convincing veneer of authenticity. The story of fraternal writers/directors Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross' film isn't much of one, for example. That's partly because it follows a group of post-graduation teenagers on a 500-mile trek to do something, even if they have no specific idea as to what that something might be. It's mostly, though, because the aimlessness is the point. After all, who really knows who they are or what they want to do with their lives fresh out of high school?

These five teens don't, but in another way, they know exactly what they're going to have to do in the next few months. None of them is going to college, because neither they nor their families have the money for such an education, while some of them have familial responsibilities that could prevent them from leaving home.

With only a little time before all of them will have to find gainful employment, the group decides to have one last moment of freedom. They'll all pack into a van, borrowed from one of the teenager's parents, with only the necessities. Their destination is the coast, because none of them has seen the Pacific Ocean. Their shared home is a little town in Oregon, where they've gone to school together for most of their lives, and if any of them have left this place in their 17 or so years of life, the trip would have been so inconsequential that not one of them mentions it.

The kids here, presumably, are real people, as in the five main characters aren't actually playing characters as much as they're presenting some parts of themselves within the framework of the story. Of course, it's impossible to tell, because the Ross brothers' technique and style create the nearly seamless illusion that we're watching a documentary.

There are little tells that such isn't the case, such as particular setups that break the trick with a little attention (A scene of dialogue between people in a van and a young woman outside it, for example, should reveal a camera in the reverse shot, but since it doesn't, we subconsciously know the moment is staged to some degree). There are also, though, small details that either intentionally or accidentally suggest a fly-on-the-wall approach to the making of this film. At a house party, a camera operator and another crew member can be seen passing by in the background, as if they're looking to see what another of the film's "subjects" is up to inside.

The point is that we're never certain if the members of the quintet are acting or just being themselves within the confines of scenarios that either are staged or could be the real deal of what the filmmakers found while on this journey. It's mostly, though, to say that the answers as to how this film was imagined and executed are less interesting than the sensation of reality the approach achieves. The five teenagers are real, because the film makes us believe they are.

By the way, they're Tony Aburto, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes, Nathaly Garcia, and Makai Garza. Each of them is introduced quickly, by way of shots of them packing their things and getting dressed for the trip, with brief flashes of their school IDs popping on screen to tell us their names. That the town and high school appear to be fictional creations is an interesting piece of trivia, as well as a marker that at least some aspect of the film is fiction. Once the five are in the van, though, the notion of this being made up mainly disappears.

The teens talk and joke and sing together with the radio or whatever song happens to pop into someone's head (It's notable the range of musical genres and eras they actually know, going from bopping along with a contemporary tune to dropping a reference to Frank Sinatra without missing a beat). They drive all day and night, because the group is in a rush to get to the coast before anyone misses them, although not in too much of a hurry to stop along the way. A pack of wild horses trots down one county road, and after picking up a hitchhiker, the gang takes a little detour to speed across a stretch of desert. Makai mentions it's the only time a landscape has made him want to cry, and the Rosses, who also serve as the film's cinematographers and editors, seem to understand that feeling, too, for as much time as they spend watching these teens exploring.

They find parties, stop at a local diner, hop on a train with a pair of young self-described "hobos," wander the streets of Portland, and meet interesting strangers, make new friends, and visit with family along the way. Eventually, their destination is a mysterious "End of the World" party, where everyone they meet on the trip seems to be heading, and despite the challenges and uncertainties, they just keep moving.

That's how these teens' lives have been, too, as they drop details, both in dialogue and in voice-over testimonies, about broken families, growing up quicker than kids probably should, feeling alone and without much to look forward to in that town they've left behind, and fears of needing to grow up once this adventure is finished. The simplicity, sincerity, and universality of such concerns mean that Gasoline Rainbow has to be real to some extent. The smart filmmaking, though, makes them feel genuine, and that's what matters most.

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