The newest “Gasoline Rainbow” from the brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross is a documentary mingled with fictional storytelling. The film follows a group of five non-actor teenagers through America, and we are often unsure how much direction the group was given. They drive through the country packed with drugs and liquor which however gives the film a raw undertone with a sufficient depiction of reality.
Nathaly, Makai, Nichole, Tony, and Micah still remember their commencement in Oregon like it was yesterday. The anxiety of growing up took control of them during their sweet sixteen, and as they were to reach eighteen, they were presented with a new set of rules school, work, and college. What remained consistent all these years was their urge to see the big wide ocean. What started out as a casual visit to the coast turned into a classic teenage road trip, as they jumped onto a van armed with marijuana, a lust for adventure,e and an oath that read, “f*ck it”.
“Gasoline Rainbow” is as spectral, in nature, as the idea of a road trip can get. Home, existing more as an abstract than a physical location, is never physically there, and the audience of the film is offered brief instances of school IDs or a teenage girl’s room to support their idea of it, while everything else becomes the vision of the open road. This leads through desolate locations and turbine farms, even quick family encounters while on the train, and all this together is what illustrates the idea of a teenage person getting lost in their wanderlust, which is all “Gasoline Rainbow” truly is.
The parents that indulge in alcohol addiction, immigration issues, and racial isolation are some of the struggles that we slowly come to know in the characters of the film. The beautiful scenery is coupled with the voiceover that helps us relate a lot of anxiety, hope, and dreams that the individual has. That said, even though we might be able to deduce who is speaking, the disembodiment of the voice puts us in a cultural rather than a sole feeling of attachment which helps us understand that this story is not solely Tony or Nichole’s but tries to encompass the entirety of their beings.
Even though these moments, are emotional, to say the least, are not the fundamental aspect of the color and features of the film. They are in fact, pieces of a bigger picture that show how the youth of Gen-Z is. The most powerful impressions are made through mundane moments such as conversations, casual interactions, and a lack of words during interactions between the group of five and the new people they come in contact with. Their sometimes frustrating childishness paired with their stunning emotional empathy is without a doubt utterly mesmerizing. It’s not that I can remember every little thing that was said, it’s more so a feeling of nostalgia and familiar spirit that one experiences that sticks with you.
Postcards and travel stamps come to my mind when I think of the stunning and beautifying shots of the film that were directed by the Ross brothers. The freeze frames looked stunning and contributed to the aesthetic of the movie.
The movie shows them in a variety of locations in the vast expanse of the American West, such as a deserted ship and a deserted landscape with wind turbines. However, they exist in a completely different dimension when they are inside the van. The combination of riding in such a crowded van with a lot of people and breathing in diesel pummels them with a lot of opportunities that can only exist in their wildest dreams. Meager in every aspect, they are always at the top of their game when it comes to showing off their characteristics and life because of how physically and showcased their lives are.
Gasoline Rainbow is distinct with its musical approach, instead of jazz, like in Kerouac, this movie has a soundtrack that incorporates a wide range of music genres including Enya and Biggie Smalls. The teenage characters in the film also add to the multicultural aspect of the film. Moreover, the youth are often shown to be reckless by being mentored by self-proclaimed punks who they end up meeting on the road, and by picking up real-life strangers at unfathomable times, like young men at night.
There is a curious detail about the structure of the film the mix of insignificant parts of the inner world of the characters brought forward by these meaningful Back and Forth conversations with sometimes quite dangerous consequences to their decision-making. There is no sense in trying to search for other phrases to start this text.
The little detail of the film ‘Gasoline Rainbow’ indicates that the age group has the will to advance into territories previously thought to be uninhabitable by a great number of youth. It is neither a stereotype of youth nor a self-prophesy in a formation of how we want 2020s youth to be, as this is permitted to occur as a result of the Ross brothers’ mostly unprescribed manual technique. As a Gen Z myself, a rather older one at that, I find it quite easy to stereotype my agemates as internet geniuses, um, advocates for mental health, and have that burning desire to argue and vote. As much as I respect and admire these things, I find myself engaging in willful ignorance of the fact that the essence of being young prevails over the relentless torrent of endless doom scrolling and the subsequent feeling of knowing that there are issues everywhere. Gen Z also has tangent possibilities like being early into self-discovery and going into unknown territories with a lot of enthusiasm and hope, and ‘Gasoline Rainbow’ felt like an optimistic realizable idea that I needed.
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