Susan Frances
07/09/08, 02:06 PM
Joy Division - Control DVD
Production Company: Becker Films
Release Date: June 3, 2008
Control is a docudrama by world renowned photographer and videographer Anton Corbijn. The movie is about the life and times of Ian Curtis, the lead vocalist of the ‘70s British post-punk band Joy Division whose surviving members guitarist Bernard Albrecht (which he later changed to Sumner), bassist Peter Hook and the last drummer in Joy Division before Curtis died in 1980, Stephen Morris, went on to form the ‘80s new wave band New Order. The movie is loosely based on the book, Touching from a Distance, written by Curtis’ widow Deborah Curtis and published in 2007. This explains the slant of the movie which puts a hefty portion of the plot on the relationship that Curtis had with his wife. The movie is more about a young man who struggles between doing what is right and doing what is in his heart than it is about the making and rise of England’s iconic band Joy Division.
The movie’s opening scene places the viewer at Macclesfield in Cheshire, England. The year is 1973 and Curtis, who is excellently portrayed by actor Sam Riley, is 17 years old and a senior in high school or secondary school in the English school system. He is living with his mum and posters of David Bowie, circa his Ziggy Stardust period, are lining Curtis’ bedroom walls. Bowie’s song “Jean Genie” is blasting in the background and Curtis is out of his school uniform and into attire that is more suitable for him emulating Bowie’s flamboyant, campy, glam-rock look. The plot commences when a school friend comes to Curtis’ house and brings his girlfriend, “Debbie” played believably by Samantha Morton. By the look in Curtis’ eyes, this is the first time he shows a romantic interest in Debbie who soon becomes his bride.
The story, written by Matt Greenhalgh, briefly courses through Ian Curtis and his bride’s early stages of marriage with the couple settling down in a modest house on Barton Street in suburban Manchester and Curtis taking a government job at the local Employment Exchange Office finding jobs for others in the neighborhood. Gradually, the script shows Curtis’ interest turning towards playing in a band with his school chums. The movie does not show how the members of the Joy Division came together or how they came up with the name of the band, which is a common slang word in England at the time to describe the female prisoners in World War II concentration camps who pleasured Nazi soldiers to spare their lives. The band started out calling themselves Warsaw, named after a Bowie song, and then one day it was changed to Joy Division.
The plot just has the band’s manager, Rob Gretton, appear suddenly in their lives one day. Gretton is performed by actor Toby Kebbell who really captures the attitude managers in the ’70s had and his look with his hair parted in the middle and donning large aviator style glasses is perfectly suited to the ’70s. Even though the movie is accurate at depicting the look of the ‘70s, the script fails at making the audience feel like they are watching the making and rise of the Joy Division. But, the movie is excellent at describing any young man who has grown up in the industrial environs of England and harbors artistic inclinations that drive him to write songs. The movie is not specific to the Joy Division, but rather relates to anyone in the world who seeks the comforts of a secure and stable home life moving in strong opposition to one’s artistic leanings to pursue writing songs and performing them in front of audiences. This is the pitfall of the movie and the ingenious work of its creators, Anton Corbijn and writer Matt Greenhalph.
Curtis suffered from epilepsy and eventually committed suicide by hanging himself with a drying ring in his home in 1980, right before the band was about to embark on an American Tour. Epilepsy gave Curtis a sense that he was out of control of his life, and the movie makes note of his condition by the time the Joy Division are starting to take off in England. The picture is dotted with this theme that Ian Curtis felt out of control of his life. The creators focused on the drama in Ian Curtis’ life having to deal with epilepsy and the “struggle between man’s conscious and his heart,” in Curtis’ words from the movie.
As the Joy Division were taking off, the movie shows that he was beginning to have less in common with his wife and daughter and was forming a strong bond with an attractive Belgium writer, Annik Honore, played by the enchanting Alexandra Maria Lara. Honore worked for the Chancellor at the Belgium Embassy and moonlighted as a journalist, which gave her the opportunity to meet the Joy Division after a gig. Her understanding of Curtis’ artistic abilities and availability to travel with the band made her Curtis’ primary source of affection. The movie shows that his guilt for betraying his wife was overwhelming and affected his performances with the band as the epileptic attacks became more frequent and more violent until he died alone in the flat that he shared with his wife, Deborah.
The creators’ use of symbolism in the cinematography, like Curtis touching a butterfly ornament on a window pane to project his desire to spread his wings but feeling very frail, assisted in moving the story along and reveals to the audience what could not be put into words. The creators also spotted the movie with clips of Joy Division’s songs and snippets taken from Curtis’ poetry and song lyrics, which transpose his feelings into symbolic images. This proved to be very effective in giving the audience a feel for the band’s music and Curtis’ artistic talents. The movie, which was filmed in color and converted into black and white, requires viewers to have an open mind in order to understand the use of symbols throughout the picture and the creators decision to put the picture in black and white to enhance these dramatic effects.
Control may actually have more significance with people who have a sense of feeling out of control of their lives than people who are fans of the Joy Division. The movie does give audience a glimpse into the music of Joy Division and the profound lyrics of its lead singer Ian Curtis, but overall Control is about one man who can be anyone’s story. The movie humanizes Ian Curtis and makes everyone feel like they can relate to the conditions that existed in Ian Curtis‘ life. The movie ends on a tragic note with Curtis’ death, which leads audiences to feel like this is the only way out of the internal struggles that plague one’s soul, but in fact, Joy Division’s music lives on and it’s surviving members formed New Order. There is life after one’s death.
Kurt & Courtney: The Tragedy of Kurt Cobain, Factory Girl: The Andy Warhol Story, Guitar Man: The Life and Times of Bob Dylan
www.control-movie.com (http://www.control-movie.com)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/)
Production Company: Becker Films
Release Date: June 3, 2008
Control is a docudrama by world renowned photographer and videographer Anton Corbijn. The movie is about the life and times of Ian Curtis, the lead vocalist of the ‘70s British post-punk band Joy Division whose surviving members guitarist Bernard Albrecht (which he later changed to Sumner), bassist Peter Hook and the last drummer in Joy Division before Curtis died in 1980, Stephen Morris, went on to form the ‘80s new wave band New Order. The movie is loosely based on the book, Touching from a Distance, written by Curtis’ widow Deborah Curtis and published in 2007. This explains the slant of the movie which puts a hefty portion of the plot on the relationship that Curtis had with his wife. The movie is more about a young man who struggles between doing what is right and doing what is in his heart than it is about the making and rise of England’s iconic band Joy Division.
The movie’s opening scene places the viewer at Macclesfield in Cheshire, England. The year is 1973 and Curtis, who is excellently portrayed by actor Sam Riley, is 17 years old and a senior in high school or secondary school in the English school system. He is living with his mum and posters of David Bowie, circa his Ziggy Stardust period, are lining Curtis’ bedroom walls. Bowie’s song “Jean Genie” is blasting in the background and Curtis is out of his school uniform and into attire that is more suitable for him emulating Bowie’s flamboyant, campy, glam-rock look. The plot commences when a school friend comes to Curtis’ house and brings his girlfriend, “Debbie” played believably by Samantha Morton. By the look in Curtis’ eyes, this is the first time he shows a romantic interest in Debbie who soon becomes his bride.
The story, written by Matt Greenhalgh, briefly courses through Ian Curtis and his bride’s early stages of marriage with the couple settling down in a modest house on Barton Street in suburban Manchester and Curtis taking a government job at the local Employment Exchange Office finding jobs for others in the neighborhood. Gradually, the script shows Curtis’ interest turning towards playing in a band with his school chums. The movie does not show how the members of the Joy Division came together or how they came up with the name of the band, which is a common slang word in England at the time to describe the female prisoners in World War II concentration camps who pleasured Nazi soldiers to spare their lives. The band started out calling themselves Warsaw, named after a Bowie song, and then one day it was changed to Joy Division.
The plot just has the band’s manager, Rob Gretton, appear suddenly in their lives one day. Gretton is performed by actor Toby Kebbell who really captures the attitude managers in the ’70s had and his look with his hair parted in the middle and donning large aviator style glasses is perfectly suited to the ’70s. Even though the movie is accurate at depicting the look of the ‘70s, the script fails at making the audience feel like they are watching the making and rise of the Joy Division. But, the movie is excellent at describing any young man who has grown up in the industrial environs of England and harbors artistic inclinations that drive him to write songs. The movie is not specific to the Joy Division, but rather relates to anyone in the world who seeks the comforts of a secure and stable home life moving in strong opposition to one’s artistic leanings to pursue writing songs and performing them in front of audiences. This is the pitfall of the movie and the ingenious work of its creators, Anton Corbijn and writer Matt Greenhalph.
Curtis suffered from epilepsy and eventually committed suicide by hanging himself with a drying ring in his home in 1980, right before the band was about to embark on an American Tour. Epilepsy gave Curtis a sense that he was out of control of his life, and the movie makes note of his condition by the time the Joy Division are starting to take off in England. The picture is dotted with this theme that Ian Curtis felt out of control of his life. The creators focused on the drama in Ian Curtis’ life having to deal with epilepsy and the “struggle between man’s conscious and his heart,” in Curtis’ words from the movie.
As the Joy Division were taking off, the movie shows that he was beginning to have less in common with his wife and daughter and was forming a strong bond with an attractive Belgium writer, Annik Honore, played by the enchanting Alexandra Maria Lara. Honore worked for the Chancellor at the Belgium Embassy and moonlighted as a journalist, which gave her the opportunity to meet the Joy Division after a gig. Her understanding of Curtis’ artistic abilities and availability to travel with the band made her Curtis’ primary source of affection. The movie shows that his guilt for betraying his wife was overwhelming and affected his performances with the band as the epileptic attacks became more frequent and more violent until he died alone in the flat that he shared with his wife, Deborah.
The creators’ use of symbolism in the cinematography, like Curtis touching a butterfly ornament on a window pane to project his desire to spread his wings but feeling very frail, assisted in moving the story along and reveals to the audience what could not be put into words. The creators also spotted the movie with clips of Joy Division’s songs and snippets taken from Curtis’ poetry and song lyrics, which transpose his feelings into symbolic images. This proved to be very effective in giving the audience a feel for the band’s music and Curtis’ artistic talents. The movie, which was filmed in color and converted into black and white, requires viewers to have an open mind in order to understand the use of symbols throughout the picture and the creators decision to put the picture in black and white to enhance these dramatic effects.
Control may actually have more significance with people who have a sense of feeling out of control of their lives than people who are fans of the Joy Division. The movie does give audience a glimpse into the music of Joy Division and the profound lyrics of its lead singer Ian Curtis, but overall Control is about one man who can be anyone’s story. The movie humanizes Ian Curtis and makes everyone feel like they can relate to the conditions that existed in Ian Curtis‘ life. The movie ends on a tragic note with Curtis’ death, which leads audiences to feel like this is the only way out of the internal struggles that plague one’s soul, but in fact, Joy Division’s music lives on and it’s surviving members formed New Order. There is life after one’s death.
Kurt & Courtney: The Tragedy of Kurt Cobain, Factory Girl: The Andy Warhol Story, Guitar Man: The Life and Times of Bob Dylan
www.control-movie.com (http://www.control-movie.com)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/)