It's just a ...' 3 dressed up as a 9' ... basically a real waste of time.

Rating: 3/10 (13 February 2008)

I have loved Samantha Morton since 'Leaving Liverpool', a great British mini series. She's upped the rating of whatever project she's worked ever since then. I enjoyed her rather small role in this,and unfortunately, it provided the film's only redeeming value.
Now as for the rest. Curtis's movements on stage while singing were embarrassingly ... what? Stupid, retarded, laughable? The music was awful, and though occasionally some of his writing came across anyway, it was that of an averagely intelligent juvenile, what you'd expect from a high school kid. Maybe with a future in which he honed his craft, his light could have shone. He removed the chance of us ever knowing.
He couldn't sing and the band's repetitive distorted insistent beat was perhaps the only reason an audience - necessarily stoned out of their minds at the time - might find it good. I'm not out of hand condemning this type of music, the Joy Division was just plain bad, but like punk-rock, death metal, and rap etc, it appeals to rebellious kids looking for something - ANYTHING - to cling to, and the more so-called truth in the lyrics consisted of distortions, filth, violence, and the degradation of women, then authority figures, then just plain hate.
Some rap I like. Some does bring across the writer's experience and opens a window into a world and attitude we might not otherwise be privy to. But is the sheer deluge of outright crap you have to wade through a good enough reason for trying to find the diamonds in the rough?
These forms of music seem to elevate the bad and mediocre efforts into a spotlight they could and should have never made it to. Ian Curtis comes across as being kind, but steeped in his own self indulgent importance, very little talent, and fans, as they seem to do consistently, elevate his contribution because of his committing suicide. He wasn't around long enough to fade into obscurity.
If I've offended any readers, then maybe it's time you took a reality pill and wise up to the fact that most of it encourages violence, degradation of the human psyche, and intimately damages our self-esteem for ourselves, and the devaluing of the lives of others. These things do nothing to improve the plight of the poor and lower class. They teach hate and ' tell it like it is'. Don't you think people already know 'how it is', and at the risk of affecting the bottom line of the mega-bucks record company incomes, it's time to help instead of hurt?
The movie was long and boring. The portrayals one dimensional. And the talent non-existent. What else do you need to know?