The Best Biopic Ever

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2007)

When I first heard of this movie, I thought it would just be your everyday, run-of-the-mill competent biopic. Hell, I was wrong. It all begins in the intro, when we see Control's credits flashing...it's amazing...And then we wait for the music (because all the biopic leave us longing for the music, the best ones, delay the entrance of the music and/or make that same entrance in a original manner, such as "Last Days", "24 Hour Party People", "High Fidelity", etc). The music comes by means of the records that, a very young Ian Curtis (very David Bowie- like), is listening to in his bedroom, the likes of Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Velvet Underground, etc. I adored the way the fans were depicted when listening to music, and adored all the reverence to the Manchester striving musical scene.
There are moments of absolute musical beauty (the use of sound is insanely perfect...), like when Ian is writing the lyrics of "She's Lost Control". It's history in the making. It's so strong. Other epic moments are the obvious moment when they perform their only-live track, "love will tear us apart" Another great moment is when we realize (very soon into the action, really) that the actors are not being dubbed but are really singing, so that makes the film so much real, and distances itself from a depiction and enters the territory of sheer realism and honesty. Another angle to it, is that Anton Corbijn worked with Joy Division himself, back in the day, so those inputs from reality, surely came in handy. This is the work of a superb artist, a genius photographer, and a newly found filmmaker. We have seen his work as a music photographer, and a video-clip conceiver, but this is an whole new ball game. Anton, you're the man! This is not a biopic. This a film about a human being who's hurt deeply by his draining medical condition, a man who strives to be good, and behave accordingly in his own emotional life (whilst occupying a neat job at a unemployment office), and all the same creating with his band, some of the most enigmatic songs of the past century. This a sure masterpiece and Mr Riley, is surely the new European heartthrob.
Hail Ian Curtis, the king ain't dead!