The Keanu Reeves Project: Permanent Record

PERMANENT RECORD (Movie, 1988) - Chris

Lost your job, your health insurance, your ability to do anything outside? Feeling lonely, depressed, ridden with anxiety?

Well, have I got the movie for you!  It's Permanent Record, the 1988 teenage suicide movie starring Keanu Reeves as Chris and Alan Boyce as David, a pair of best friends living it up in their final year of high school.

I'm unfamiliar with much of Keanu's earliest work and as I do for other movies these days, I like going into a movie with as little knowledge as possible.  I avoid trailers as much as I can, especially as they ruin entire movies now and have been for years.  At this point, I generally rely on my friends with whom I share similar tastes to recommend things to me.  I don't need more than a short sentence description much beyond "it's really good" or "it's really funny" or "it has Keanu Reeves in it."  Then I put that movie on this giant list, wait five years and forget the little I knew about it and finally get around to watching it.  It's not that efficient of a plan but it works for me.

So anyway, I went into Permanent Record not knowing this was about teenage suicide so I was a little surprised when it actually happened.  Alan Boyce plays David, a high school senior who is spending his time writing music for his band, banging a hot girl from school (who wonders why if they're hooking up all the time why they're not going steady), and hanging out with his best friend Chris, played by Keanu Reeves.

"No David, what I'm saying is this band NEEDS Eddie Van Halen!"

In fact, we don't think anything is amiss until he's called into the principal's office to find out he's actually gotten great news - he's been accepted into a prestigious music school.  But David doesn't take it as great news, he has a full-on panic attack, saying he's under far too much pressure between his band and writing songs as well as acting as the music conductor for the upcoming school musical. 

Aside from that scene, the first 30 minutes of Permanent Record took a far different tone than what was to come.  There were a few scenes that were played for some laughs, like Chris and David sneaking into a record studio to watch Lou Reed (yes, actually the real Lou Reed) record a song.  There's also a pretty funny scene of the auditions for the school musical, The H.M.S. Pinafore which played a big like a compilation of the worst American Idol auditions.

I'm sorry 1988 Eminem, you were just a pit too pitchy.  

One night early into the school year, Chris and David head to a party at the shore, but something is clearly wrong with David as he walks out of the party, alone along a cliff.  Chris, a bit buzzed after a few beers, sneakily follows behind with the intention of surprising him by jumping out from behind a rock.  So it comes as a shock to Chris when he jumps out and David is gone.  On the edge of a cliff one moment, dead at the bottom the next.

The following hour of the movie has a complete tonal shift as Keanu Reeves ascends into the lead role attempting to cope with his friend's death, along with the rest of David's circle of friends.

There are a few subplots like Chris attempting to finish David's last incomplete song and David's friends trying to organize a memorial service to him before the school superintendent shuts it all down for questionable reasons.

Just Keanu and his two 39 year old bandmates.

The back end of this movie really ended up being a lot heavier than I was expecting, particularly because David's friends and families never really learn why David killed himself.  And that's also what I really liked about this movie as it all felt very real.  Even the adults in this movie (aside from David's bandmates who all looked like they were at least 20 years older than David and Chris) came across as real people unlike the stereotypes you might be expecting from 80s teen movies.  

I'm glad I went into this with no expectations.  No, it was not a perfect movie.  Some of the tonal shifts were downright confusing and the ending was a little too cliche but overall I was pleasantly surprised by this one and glad I went in without knowing anything about it.

BEST PART: Surprisingly believable characters, the sequence where Keanu Reeves almost kills his friend's younger brother while drunk driving and the believable emotional response afterwards.

WORST PART: I can't think of one, this was a shockingly good movie, maybe because I had such low expectations.

Box Office Mojo information: $1.9 Million

Rotten Tomatoes: 50% Critics, 69% Audience.  69 dudes.  Roger Ebert particularly LOVED this movie and called it one of the best of the year.  

IMDB: 6.4

My Movie Rating: 7/10.  Definite bummer of a movie but really good, believable performances throughout.  Wouldn't recommend while in isolation for coronavirus though.  

Keanu Rating: 8/10.  He's pretty goofy in the beginning but definitely takes a much more serious tone after Chris' death and gives a shockingly good performance.  

Up next - The 1988 movie Dangerous Liasons.  I feel like this is a pretty well known movie but not only have I never seen it, but I think the only thing I know about it is that Cruel Intentions was an updated remake which I've also never seen and also know very little about.  But Glenn Close and John Malkovich?  I'm in!