This slightly surreal Italian road movie from first-time director Monica Stambrini tweaks the THELMA AND LOUISE mythos with just the right amount of moody teen spirit. Lenni (Regina Orioli) is the meek, bespectacled girlfriend of butch mechanic Stella (Maya Sansa), and together they run a gas station/coffee shop. They live in a middle-of-nowhere paradise that is soon lost with the arrival of Lenni's controlling, disapproving mother (Mariella Valentini) who tries to drag her daughter back home. Soon Lenni's mother is lying dead, and hell is getting ready to break loose. The girls take off on a road trip with mom's corpse in the trunk, but their nocturnal journey is repeatedly interrupted. They encounter a cynical priest, a leaky gas tank, Stella's wayward dog, and--worst of all--a car driven by two crazy, menacing Italian men and their video-camera happy girlfriend who pursue them all through the night.

Propelled by Stambrini's inspired visual style and a cool, rock-tinged soundtrack, GASOLINE contains no dull stretches. Valentini and Orioli are cute and believable as the girls; their sex scenes generate honest steam and if their relationship seems somewhat shallow it's only an intentional indication of their character's youthful lack of self-knowledge. GASOLINE is high-grade stuff in its genre of romantic sagas where doomed outsiders hit the road with a dead body in the trunk.