David is a popular student. During a late night party, David falls off a cliff. His friend Chirs (Keanu Reeves) suspects that it was suicide, but he can't figure out why. He hopes to use David's music at the school memorial, but the school cancels it after discovering the suspected suicide.It's dark meandering tale of teenage angst. It's a good one at that. The suicide comes in a little late. At around 30 minutes, the movie gets going too slowly and too late. The audience doesn't really need to see or hear from David. He is better as a memory from the other characters.Keanu Reeves gives another performance like 'River's Edge'. He's very effective as a disenfranchised teen. In fact, this is his story which adds to the argument to skip most of David's scenes in the beginning. Keanu's the star and the camera knows it.

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.

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.

this is a really solid film, especially for teens i think. i haven't seen it in years so i'm not sure how well it holds up or if it would still appeal to a now-30 year old, but i was really moved by it back then. keanu is obviously much younger but he brings a tremendous amount of complexity to his role as the close friend of a charcter who takes his own life unexpectedly. the film deals with the aftermath of suicide amongst other complicated issues. along with "river's edge", this is one of the darker teen-related films of the era and just as absorbing imho. definitely worth a look if only for the historical aspect of keanu's filmography.