Here’s the First U.S. Trailer for Crime Thriller ‘The Connection’

A while back we featured trailer for a French crime thriller starring Oscar winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) called The Connection. While the trailer lacked subtitles, it boasted a sleek and refined visual style, harkening back to some of the great crime dramas of the 70s.

Now comes the first U.S. trailer by way of distributor Drafthouse Films, which comes with more footage and a better sense of story, character, and conflict. Still, the trailer features a lot of what made the international footage appealing—a super cool French rendition of Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) playing over footage of shootouts, car chases, and 70s nightlife.

Though The Connection is not considered a remake of William Friedkin’s 1971 classic The French Connection, it is both loosely connected to and inspired by it. It’s said to focus on a lot of what took place in the original film—the French smuggling ring that imported heroin to the U.S.—but from a French perspective, with most of the film taking place in Marseilles.

Jean Dujardin plays a French magistrate driven to take down the French Connection and put an end to the heroin trafficking within his own city. He crosses paths with a drug lord, played by Gilles Lellouche (Tell No One), who in return puts both the magistrate and his family in danger. Directed by Cédric Jimenez, The Connection is set for a limited release on May 15.