Gasoline Rainbow, the latest outing from the directing duo known as the Ross Brothers (siblings Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2023. Known for their semi-improvisational “stream-of-consciousness” style, this is their first work of pure fiction. Shot with a cast of non-actors in a largely unscripted, observational style inspired by the likes of Les Blank, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Robert Altman, the directors imbue the project with a fresh and spontaneity quality. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, Gasoline Rainbow has also been screened at prestigious documentary film festivals like Amsterdam’s IDFA.
Enlisting a group of real-life teenagers (Nathaly Garcia, Makai Garza, Tony Aburto, Nichole Dukes, and Micah Bunch) from the dusty small town of Wiley, Oregon, the filmmakers tag along as the recent high school grads set out on one last adventure together. Wiley, the inland home they describe as a “nowhere, hick town,” is only 513 miles from the Pacific Ocean, but none of them have ever seen it.
Setting out in a beater van with little plan beyond the central mantra of “Fuck it” and the general goal of making it to the coast, the kids manage to pick up a few strays along the way. Early on, they come across a young man walking the highway in the dark and, tittering with the danger of it, follow him to a party in the desert. They party through the night, reveling in the instant bonds of youth. Their new friends invite them to an epic party on the coast in a few days: The Party at the End of the World. Their new goal locked in, the group drifts off to sleep under the desert sky.
Waking up, they joke around, amazed that they hadn’t been murdered, assaulted, or robbed. Well… two out of three ain’t bad. Wandering out to the highway, they find the tires stripped from their van. With no cell service they have no choice but to make their way through the scorching desert on foot, bickering and joking around most of the way. Even as things seem to go south for our protagonists, their warmth and optimism leaps off the screen. Adding to the that feeling, these scenes are infused with an intimate home-movie quality. At times the filmmakers lean into a handheld aesthetic and at others lock off the camera, crafting beautifully composed images of perfect stillness. Mixing higher and lower resolution formats with scattered candid photographs, the Ross Brothers weave in stylish touches to temper the grittiness of their improvisational aesthetic.
As the sun dips over the horizon and the group finally reaches some semblance of civilization, they stop for food at a roadside lounge, inevitably making a few new friends in the process.
Joining forces with a transient couple hitchhiking their way to Portland, they hop a train the rest of the way. Arriving in the big city for the first time, they meet a friendly soul named Gary, and tag along to a typically Portland dance party in the park. Throughout their largely joyful journey, sad snippets of their troubled home lives are revealed – Nathalie’s dad was deported, Micah’s parents are in rehab – but despite this, they’re in no hurry to grow up. Not just yet anyway. We cheer them on along their way, enjoying these carefree moments while they can.
After a few more pit stops to watch a Cheech & Chong video in the great outdoors and attend yet another all-night house party, Gary returns triumphantly with a friend’s boat, ready to cruise them the rest of the way to the End of the World. They find their friends at a huge bonfire on the beach, complete with flaming piano. Dancing joyfully through the night, they seem incandescently happy, innocent of the troubles of the past or the future. They did it! They made it to the coast! As the sun rises, they sit silently together, contemplating the future. They embrace, unsure of what’s to come, but sure of their love for each other. Back in Wiley, a yellow light blinkers at a lonely intersection.
Gasoline Rainbow is available to stream on MUBI from May 31st.
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