The marketing materials for
Gasoline dub it an Italian or lesbian Thelma and Louise, but unfortunately,
those comparisons set expectations too high. It is a buddy movie, but Stella and
Lenni inhabit a predictable script that meanders on too long. Stella (Maya
Sansa) is a mechanic who runs a gas station off the highway, and Lenni (Regina
Orioli) staffs the coffee bar. They're young and happily in love, until the day
that Lenni's mother (Mariella Valentini) comes to visit. She tries to force her
daughter to leave the life of "a lesbian gas station attendant," and
in the struggle, she is accidentally killed with a blow to the head. The
rest of the film follows their efforts to clean up the mess, dump the body, and
elude some drugged jerks after Stella keys their car. In between, they stop at
a disco, lose their dog, have sex in a bathroom
just the usual with a body
in the trunk of the car. Lenni turns into the classic sniveling twit who messes
up Stella's plans. They do stick together until the end though. |