Permanent Green Light

It almost looks and sounds like a parody of disaffected youth films, but there may be something deeper going on in PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT. An obsession with explosions leads Roman (Benjamin Sulpice) to create a pinata for a friend who doesn't want to beat and make it explode. Roman himself wants to 'explode' but does he want to die? Unlike a couple of his other acquaintances, he's not necessarily suicidal. Perhaps his in existential crisis, wanting to exist objectively, as a 'thing' rather than a person. Knowing his best friend is in love with him has little effect, nor does the suicide of a girl who seemed to share his outlook on life. These are young people on the verge of adulthood, who have no idea what to think or do about their lives. In that way it's genuinely effective.

The young actors are all very committed to their roles, especially Sulpice who seems a remarkable talent. Set in a sterile suburb somewhere in France and with long silences between the dialog scenes, it may try the patience of some viewers. Watching this film is a lot like reading Dennis Cooper, who wrote and co-directed.