Gasoline Rainbow is a road movie about the life adventure of five best friends from the gen-z generation. The film’s directors – the Ross brothers (Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross) maintained most of the themes of their cinema. Most importantly, they relied on non-professional actors, who at many moments simply played themselves. As in Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets there is a great deal of improvisation and sceneries chosen at random. The filmmakers decided to wonderfully show the range of life dilemmas laced with heavy traumas and everything that affects today’s youth and beyond. The Ross brothers’ film is perfect within the framework of its “premise”, it was stripped of the clichéd plots and stories that need to be ticked off to better sell the production. They chose a region of the US that is less often seen in cinema, which is Oregon, and finally, the whole thing is executed with so much ease that you can’t take your eyes (and ears) away from their film.

The number of creative solutions the filmmakers put on is so numerous that it is very easy to forget some of them. The concept of the film, which resembles a “one-take” improvisation, deserves great respect. Equally important is the fact that the film’s characters do not play any directed roles but are actually those five young high school graduates who want to close their important chapter in a spectacular way before entering adulthood. The technical aspects of the film such as cinematography, music, set design and locations are very good and chosen as if naturally.

The portrayal of the characters as those who want to “go wild” one last time before entering proper life and starting careers is also a manifesto striking at the universals of life. It is an objection to a standardized value system that dictates from the very beginning a pattern of life and when and how to do what. It’s definitely not a film just about constant partying, but a demonstration of what’s in people’s heads and hearts at the threshold of entering adulthood.

Wendy Ide of the Guardian rightly pointed out in her review that the film is most closely inspired by the novel On the Road by Jack Keourac as well as the artist’s work in general. As in the iconic novel by one of the leaders of the Beat movement, the protagonists of the Ross brothers’ film have no major plan for their journey. Focused only on the adventure and the experiences associated with it, they want above all to be themselves in every possible way.

There is a great deal of emotion in Gasoline Rainbow – both light and difficult to manage. It’s a film full of colors, which are highlighted by playing with convention, especially at the stage of shooting. It is a “road movie” that, on the one hand, does not aim for a clearly defined goal and appears as an improvised production, and on the other hand, in a technically admirable way, closes in great fashion the story of the last days of real freedom of five friends. The choice of specific songs that make up the excellent soundtrack made the audio layer one of the most important protagonists of the film. The song Changes by Antonio Williams and Kerry McCoy resonates so strongly that it is impossible to get away from it.

The film Gasoline Rainbow (dir. Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross) is to be seen as part of the American Indies section during the 18th Mastercard OFF CAMERA.

Screening list:

• 25/04/2025 | 8:30 PM | Sala Czerwona | Kino Pod Baranami
• 28/04/2025 | 4:00 PM | Sala Czerwona | Kino Pod Baranami
• 02/05/2025 | 4:00 pm | Sala Czerwona | Kino Pod Baranami

Marcin Telega

photo Gasoline Rainbow (dir. Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross