Two women on the run from the law soon find they have more than the cops to contend with in this feminist thriller from Italy. Eleonora (Mariella Valentini) learns that her daughter Lenni (Regina Orioli), a teenage runaway, is working at a run-down gas station in a small town, and decides to pay her a visit. Eleonora is quite surprised to discover that Lenni also happens to be involved in a lesbian relationship with Stella (Maya Sansa), a mechanic who runs the station. While glad to see her
daughter, Eleonora makes no secret of her indignation, and after a heated argument Eleonora winds up dead. Lenni and Stella set out to find a safe place to hide the body, but, en route, they're trailed by three sexist toughs (Chiara Conti, Marco Quaglia, and Pietro Ragusa) whose childish taunting escalates into violence, forcing the women to fight fire with fire. As if they didn't have enough problems, Lenni and Stella must also contend with the spirit of Eleonora, who, even in death, will not keep her uncharitable opinions to herself. Benzina made its North American premier at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Stambrini and her cinematographer, Fabio Cianchetti, give the proceedings a high-tech, energetic look that keeps the thrill and entertainment levels high.
Containing elements from more than a few of its similarly themed predecessors, the loopy but tautly staged Gasoline still manages to be engrossing throughout its brief running time.
As time tells (remember The Girl?), decidedly lesbian features, unless they have something more enlightening to show or tell, should stick the pornography market.
Benzina has a hip look to it. The film is set in a particularly bleak urban landscape and has plenty of noir elements and edge, visually speaking, but the story is ridiculous.
An overlooked stylish and poetic road film. It isn't such a contrivance when you consider that Strambini treated the trip as a metaphor. The journey of the ladies' bond comes full circle when the characters reach a point where they trust one another enough in order to agree to pave their own path. They spent most of
their time spinning their wheels. Strambini seems to maneuver around the obvious cliches by paying attention to details. What could express a passionate love more than a pair of gift wrapped scuba goggles or a mother's blood seeping into heaps of sugar on the floor. Performances by Regina Orioli and Maya Sansa seem to distract you from caring about how believable the actual narrative is. Do we really care? No. Do we want to come along with them on their trip? Sure, why not?
A Touch of Pink 4/10The usual overbearing mother who disagrees with her gay sons life. Blah! Me Without You 4/10Lame. Lame! LAME! Conan the Barbarian 6/10It?s totally worth seeing just for James Earl Jones freaky looks! Home On The Range 4/10Not up to par. Gasoline 5/10Meh. Nothing special.
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