the audience applauded

Absolutely Fantastic

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Permanent Record is one of my favorite movies starring Keanu Reeves. He plays Chris Townsend. I always loved that name. He's a high- schooler whose best friend named David kills himself. What follows is how it impacts the people in David's life. I think however that Chris is the most complex character. He evokes much of the film's emotional weight. There is a good balance in his performance in being between light and introspective. It is an affecting and heartfelt story. I think there were some reasons why it didn't sell when it was released back in 1988 and it really had nothing to do with whether it's a good movie because it is; don't get me wrong. It is one of the most underrated films of that year, or any other year. And it didn't help much at the time being up against Beetle Juice and Colors, although I think that was a minor issue. It did bad at the box office because of the subject matter; teen suicide, which is a touchy subject, no matter what year. Also at the time there were no big names in it. The marketing didn't help either. I remember the trailer being advertised on t.v. months before its release and it basically was a psa. There weren't any scenes shown from the movie. Basically, it showed some kids/young adults talking about being affected by it. While that may be an informative way of marketing; from that perspective, I think it hurt its chances of becoming a hit. Sometimes not showing any footage from the actual movie in trailers isn't necessarily a good thing.I have seen this film quite a few times and I hardly find fault with it. I think it is effective that basically David gets about only the first twenty minutes or so of screen time early on. There may not be much explored with his character but what is presented is all one really needs to know. He is charming, evidently smart and musically oriented. There is a glimpse into what is possibly making him tick. His character carries a lot of weight of the responsibilities that are given to him. It is more about the ones closest to him that are effected by the consequences. I have heard criticisms of the film's ending; that it is reminiscent of an after school special. I disagree. I like the way it all comes together; the school's remembrance of him in the end. It is a heavy film overall, but I think it is well done.

Well . . .this was a complete fluke for me. I was at K-Mart with a friend, and I saw this for $3.49. I figured you could hardly rent a movie for that, and the plot interested me. Having lost a friend to suicide myself, I found the movie to be very honest and real in its emotion and messages. While some of the acting was pretty B-grade, it wasn't that bad considering the obviously low budget. AND I'm shocked to say Keanu Reeves wasn't at all bad--in fact, he was quite good (and I'm not a fan)! Overall, I'd definitely recommend this movie and say it was well worth the money I paid--in fact, I'd have paid more. I'm really pleasantly surprised (for once) and glad I got the movie.

This movie was by far one of the best I've seen in quite some time. Keanu Reeves gives a very heart-felt performance while handling the things in the movie he has to handle. Also, there is some great singing in this movie. Jennifer Rubin's character sings a song at the end of the movie that I would love to be able to find. The singer, whether or not it truly is her, is terrific. The story line is serious, as is the movie, but anyone who wishes to see Keanu master his dramatic, sad role should definitely see this movie.

When I first saw "Permanent Record", I was on a psych unit, trying to regain control of my life as a teenager. It was a movie that they'd shown to us to kind of teach us a lesson about how our actions and decisions affect the people around us. I really enjoyed this movie and wouldn't mind adding it to my collection.