Middle school, mean girls, and Reagan-era bad hair.
Nothing about adolescence is easy, and to have a bad hair day turn into a bad hair year is a recipe for disaster, as Permanent so lovingly and unabashedly shows.
Permanent is Colette Burson’s first feature film since Hung, her HBO series of a few years back. She has mined her own life, as well as the spirit of the times, for this look back at a most fraught season of childhood.
Aurelie (Kira McLean) is “the new kid,” and her best idea to get ready for her new school was to get a perm. Burson went through this herself, and the good idea turns bad in a hurry. Luckily Aurelie is a pretty fearless kid, so she still goes headfirst into her new class.
Her parents are going through a lot themselves. Jim (Rainn Wilson) has just left the Air Force after being a steward on Air Force One and is now going to college, taking a can-do attitude into something maybe he can’t. Jeanne (Patricia Arquette) has turned into the breadwinner but has lots of unfulfilled desires that this life isn’t satisfying.
Aurelie has to deal with oblivious teachers, gross boys, and redneck mean girls. She does so with grit, grace, but still lots of frustration and tears. Her parents handle things much less well, but the family comes together as the story resolves.
Permanent presents a sweet and sour look at a tough age, but with a combination of great actors (especially McLean), authentic sets, and a sympathetic story, it’s no chore to relive “the bad old days.”