"The Connection" gets some points for pushing the envelope for its time, but my goodness what a tedious movie it is.
The end credits reveal that the film was based on a play, which did not surprise me in the least. It's set in one room and follows a bunch of junkies while they're waiting for their dealer to arrive so they can get their next fix. There's a movie director and his cameraman in the room filming the whole thing, so the film we are watching is really the film within the film. Each character gets a moment to monologue about something, but everything is delivered in the same sweaty, rambling style so that it all blends together and no one character is really distinct from another. Meanwhile, a few of the guys improvise jazz in the background for nearly the entire length of the film, which becomes insanely irritating about mid-way through. I think the idea is that it's all supposed to be so cinema verite that we aren't sure what's real and what's not, but the dialogue sounds so scripted, and the acting is so unbelievable, that we never for a moment are fooled into thinking this is anything but fiction.
Grade: D
The end credits reveal that the film was based on a play, which did not surprise me in the least. It's set in one room and follows a bunch of junkies while they're waiting for their dealer to arrive so they can get their next fix. There's a movie director and his cameraman in the room filming the whole thing, so the film we are watching is really the film within the film. Each character gets a moment to monologue about something, but everything is delivered in the same sweaty, rambling style so that it all blends together and no one character is really distinct from another. Meanwhile, a few of the guys improvise jazz in the background for nearly the entire length of the film, which becomes insanely irritating about mid-way through. I think the idea is that it's all supposed to be so cinema verite that we aren't sure what's real and what's not, but the dialogue sounds so scripted, and the acting is so unbelievable, that we never for a moment are fooled into thinking this is anything but fiction.
Grade: D