The serious subject matter of teenage suicide gets a light-hearted treatment in Permanent Record, a sub-mediocre film about the sorrowful after effects of one's best friend committing suicide, the pain of which could be healed easily if only the teacher & principle would let the kids sing a rock ballad about it instead of doing icky old Gilbert & Sullivan.

Except for one moment when Keanu Reeve's drunken party-boy character bursts into tears clinging to his dead friend's father, this film is so badly acted that none of the emotions convince.

The same story was told much, much, much better in one of the first films to star Charlie Sheen. Silence of the Heart is a surprisingly decent film honestly acted, despite that it was one of those "issue (or disease) of the week" type made-for-tv movies.

This film reveals sincere emotional turmoil inevitably caused by one's best friend committing suicide. It shows convincingly a young man's temptation to reenact the suicide upon the anniversary of so terrible a loss. And it captures the helpless terror of parents unsure how to get their son back from deepening depression.

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