The Connection

The oeuvre of New York avant-garde filmmaker Shirley Clarke (1919–1997) was heavily influenced by jazz. Her debut film The Connection tells the story of a group of jazz musicians (played by genuine jazz greats including Jackie McLean and Freddie Redd, who also wrote the score) waiting for their dealer in a messy apartment while a young documentary maker tries to shoot a ‘realistic’ film about them.

Through a kind of Droste effect (film-within-a-film), The Connection paints a cynical, satirical portrait of the New York beau monde, in the shape of the documentary makers. It also throws an at times almost uneasy light on drug addiction, without becoming totally gloomy; the cinematography – influenced by the Nouvelle Vague – is marvellous, and the tone playful, thanks to the intermittently poetic 'Beat dialogue'.

This controversial film shattered stereotypes in pretty much every conceivable way, and became the subject of a historic censorship case for its 'indecent language'. At the time, The Connection was considered a masterpiece and exerted great influence on filmmakers. The film hasn’t been seen on the big screen since the early eighties, however.

Screening of the 2012 restoration by UCLA & The Academy Film Archive, in collaboration with Milestone Film.