What Ian Curtis was all about

Rating: 8/10 (3 December 2007)

There are two things a successful rockstar biography movie needs: 1) A well balanced mix of music and story telling and 2) an actor who can do the real musician justice. "Control" has both. Even though Anton Corbijn has said in advance that people looking for a movie about music would be disappointed by his film about Ian Curtis, I think he exaggerated a bit. Almost all of Joy Division's greatest songs can be heard here. The band plays them live in front of an audience, in TV studios or in a recording booth. By "the band" I mean the actors, and that brings us straight to Nr. 2. Like "Ray" and "The Doors", "Control" is another one of those movies where you wouldn't believe that the leading actor is actually doing all the vocals himself. Sam Riley doesn't only look like Curtis, he also sounds exactly like him. And he's a great actor. Had someone else played the part, Curtis might easily have come of as a self-pitying wimp (which he was to a certain degree), but Riley showed us the inner struggle of that man and made us understand why he eventually committed suicide. Samantha Morton must be mentioned, too. She plays the heartbreakingly betrayed wife of Curtis who would later write the book that this movie is based on.
What makes "Control" special, though, is that director Anton Corbijn actually knew Ian Curtis personally and it shows. What we see isn't the story of a rock star, but of a person torn between what his heart and his head tell him. Corbijn has spent almost three decades making music videos and photographing bands. His work has influenced the aesthetics of rock music as much as the ones of advertising. Although that alone didn't mean he could make a good movie, Corbijn proved that he can. "Control" is a well-balanced, beautifully shot movie with contained direction. The look fits the mood perfectly and there was really no one else who could have done the story of Ian Curtis and Joy Division justice as much as Corbijn did.
One thing another reviewer mentioned rings true though: had Curtis not been a famous musician, his life wouldn't have been very interesting. He was just a regular guy. Real regular. At least the movie makes him out to be, since none of the depths that might have been within Curtis besides the epilepsy and his love affairs are explored. That's the one beef I have with "Control".