Control

UK Release Date. 5 October 2007
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 2 mins
Director. Anton Corbijn
Cast. Joe Anderson, Toby Kebbell, Alexandra Maria Lara, Samantha Morton, Craig Parkinson, James Anthony Pearson, Sam Riley, Harry Treadaway.
Rating. 75%

Review.

Based on Deborah Curtis' memoir, Touching from a distance, Control documents the troubled life of Ian Curtis, the lead singer with Joy Division.

Directed by Anton Corbijn, Joy Division's official photographer in his first feature-length film, Control at times, has the feel of a photographic study. There are plenty of shots of Curtis in the streets of Macclesfield or enjoying a cigarette.

Corbijn chose to shoot the film in black and white, to suggest Control was of the time and create the perfect atmosphere to represent the dreariness of Manchester. A factor that surely contributed to the dark nature of the music coming from the area at that time. Alongside Joy Division, contemporaries such as The Fall, The Buzzcocks and The Smiths were emerging from the gloom.

Joy Division were formed in the late 1970s by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Ian Curtis - the three fellow band members respectively portrayed by James Anthony Pearson, Joe Anderson and Harry Treadaway. But this is Ian Curtis' film and the immediate standout is Sam Riley, not only because of his striking resemblance to Ian Curtis, but also because Riley delivers an electrifying performance, perfectly adopting the lead singer's voice and on-stage mannerisms. Riley provides all of Curtis' distinctive vocals in the on-screen Joy Division performances and such was his spectacular embodiment of Curtis that Riley garnered several breakthrough awards from various film festivals around the world.

Unless on stage, Curtis is portrayed as quiet, brooding and uncommunicative. He endured a strained marriage with his childhood sweetheart, Deborah (Samantha Morton), made more difficult by his ongoing battle with epilepsy and depression. Corbijn drives the story as much by style as by narrative. The monochrome palette aids considerably, as do the long, unbroken scenes with minimal dialogue. The pace is slow, deliberate. Corbijn's aim is to build a sense of Curtis' growing anxiety. An anxiety that ultimately overwhelmed Curtis with tragic consequences. 

Control requires patience. The film's energy is in the live performance scenes, which are truly electric. Joy Division's music is interspersed throughout the story, but Corbijn shrewdly relegates the seminal Love Will Tear Us Apart to a small supporting role, instead highlighting the group's debut single, Transmission and some of the lesser known songs from Unknown Pleasures - She's Lost Control and Disorder. My familiarity with the work of Joy Division certainly aided my enjoyment of the film, but Control is strong enough to stand on its own merit, even if you are ignorant of the group's back catalogue.