The Grand Illusion

30TH ANNIVERSARY!

America, 1976. The last day of school. Bongs blaze, bell-bottoms ring, and rock and roll rocks. Among the best teen films ever made, DAZED AND CONFUSED eavesdrops on a group of seniors-to-be and incoming freshmen. A launching pad for a number of future stars including Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, and Ben Affleck, the first studio effort by Richard Linklater also features endlessly quotable dialogue and a blasting, stadium-ready soundtrack. Sidestepping nostalgia, DAZED AND CONFUSED is less about “the best years of our lives” than the boredom, angst, and excitement of teenagers waiting... for something to happen.

Part of both our Summer Blast! and Pocketful of Posey film series.

“Summer heat seeps from the screen, ambition goes up in a gentle haze of marijuana smoke and the film swaggers and lollops along to the beat of a supremely cheesy 70s rock soundtrack – Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ has never sounded so jaunty.” Ben Thompson, Sight & Sound

“Dazed and Confused ought to be in a prominent place at the Library of Congress, next to The Godfather, Frederick Wiseman’s High School, American Graffiti, Nashville, Citizen Kane and other quintessentially American works. Like all those films, Dazed succeeds on its own terms and reflects American culture so well, it becomes part of it. More important, it’s the best movie I’ve seen on serious butt whacking since If.” Desson Thomson, The Washington Post