Control  is a biography of the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. Starring Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Tony Kebbell and Alexandra Maria Lara. Directed by Anton Corbijn

Although I had heard of Joy Division, I am not a fan and was not familiar with their songs. I was, however, aware of the band’s cult following and knew of the short, tragic life of lead singer Ian Curtis: on May 18, 1980, the day before the band was to go on its first US tour, Curtis hanged himself in his estranged wife’s kitchen. He was just 23 years old.
 

The film follows the final seven years of Curtis’ life, from the blossoming of his love life and the rise of his band to his eventual implosion. Is this a sad film? Yes, because it is a sad story. However, the film never becomes sensationalistic or resorts to melodrama or preaching. Instead, it succeeds both as a rock biopic and in telling the life story of a very real, flawed young man. Capturing the daily troubles of Curtis adds emotional weight to the music, which is dark, yet has a hypnotic beauty to it. Indeed, the movie’s greatest success is that it made me interested in hearing more of Joy Division’s music and made me see how the band’s work still resonates nearly 30 years after its demise.

The performances are also strength, most notably by the two leads. Newcomer Sam Riley succeeds magnificently in carrying the film on his shoulders (he is onscreen nearly the entire film) and strongly conveys that Curtis was at his happiest and most alive when performing. Riley does his own singing and his stage performances are remarkably similar (an archived performance by the real Joy Division is included in the extras and the similarities between Riley and Curtis, both in appearance and performance, are almost eerie). Furthermore, Samantha Morton, one of the most reliable actors on the planet, is utterly convincing as his naïve teen bride Deborah. Her performance is heartbreaking. She loves him and stays in love with him, even as she endures hurt after hurt from her husband.

The film is not perfect. Some parts early in the film seem to fall too neatly into place and follow the blueprint of the standard rock biopic. Curtis meets his future wife, gets married, finds a band in need of a singer, said band finds a manager, Curtis has an affair, et cetera. I am sure that the film wanted to stay within a reasonable running time and to not veer off course from the main focus, which is Curtis and his relationships, but the buildup before the fall seemed a bit too “pat” at times.

The film also makes it hard to like Curtis at times, even if it is probably being quite truthful. The film is based on a memoir by Deborah Curtis and the title of her book, Touching from a Distance, perfectly describes their relationship (or, for that matter, anyone who tries to love him). He remains cold, distant and unresponsive. He inexcusably neglects his wife and child (however, the film shows that, to his credit, Curtis shamefully admits that he is a bad husband and father).

The sad, simple truth is that life threw too much at Ian Curtis and the young man was overwhelmed. Imagine trying to juggle all this at once: rising fame, but no money yet, a child and wife you no longer love (yet you know she loves you) to support, guilt that you feel attraction for another woman and uncertainty over your future with the other woman. Add to that severe attacks of epilepsy and a “hit and miss” approach by doctors alternating you from one strong drug to another. All this at the age of 23. I can’t condone what Ian Curtis did, but I can understand and empathize with him. Most importantly, it made me want to listen to what he had to say-which is perhaps the point of the film.   

DVD Features:

• Audio options are French 5.1 and English 5.1.
• Language choices are English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.

There is a solid collection of special features on this disc:

• Commentary by Director Anton Corbijn
• A making of featurette
• An informative conversation with the director (Corbijn is a renowned rock photographer who worked with Joy Division in the late 1970s).
• Extended concert performances from the film
• Music videos
• Transmission-a rare TV appearance of Joy Division from 1979
• Atmosphere-a music video from Corbijn from 1988
• Shadowplay-a cover from 2007 by The Killers
• Still gallery
• Promotional materials, including trailers, the soundtrack, the book on which the film is based and information from The Epilepsy Foundation

WATCH THE TRAILER:

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