Gun violence, phenomenal reality and parallel worlds: Christina Kallas’s multi-protagonist narratives in The Rainbow Experiment

The second film in writer–director Christina Kallas’s New York trilogy, which includes 42 Seconds of Happiness (2016) and Paris is in Harlem (forthcoming), The Rainbow Experiment (2018) portrays the powerful but flawed American experiment. Its script chronicles the desires and tawdry failures of teachers, administrators, parents and students of many hues, ethnicities and gender preferences tearing at each other on one horrific day, beginning with an explosion and ending with a double shooting – or so it seems. The implication is that gun violence has become so familiar that it almost fades into the background of collective despair. However, with a world-view that recalls David Lynch and a narrative that imbeds this school saga within its densely urban setting, Kallas counters the seemingly inevitable choices available in this fractured system. An evolving alternative scenario rests its faith on the arrogant but potentially redemptive young. The comically inflected, tragic linear story is scripted in non-linear flashbacks, crosscuts and elaborate split-screens. The film provides portals to an internal reality that posits that life choices, like a movie plot, can be reversed. Overall, The Rainbow Experiment reinforces Kallas’s emergence as a potent and bold voice, redefining and recontextualizing modern film genres.