Visually bleak, yet moving and honest Biopic

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2008)

Use of Black and White is sometimes used unnecessarily, and can sometimes come across as a little pretentious. In Control I'd say it was essential. Every shade of black to grey to white is used perfectly to bring life to the film, but always reminding us of the bleak character we are dealing with. The ending I found to be particularly moving, the thick black smoke from the church lifting our antihero into the skies around the fields of Macclesfield.
The film also manages to convey very accurately all the events from his short life from a teenager up until his death without passing judgement or making rash statements about his character. It presents the facts and allows us to make up our own minds as to why he behaved as he did. Sam Riley was terrific, especially in any scene involving Joy Division's performances. He really nailed it. The use of music as the soundtrack with no additional scoring seemed to add to the bleakness of the quiet dialogue sequences.
I was also quite fond of the portrayal of Rob Gretton by Tony Kebbell, who weirdly played alongside Paddy Considine in Dead Mans Shoes who in turn played Gretton in the Factory Records themed film "24 hour party people". He added a little touch of humour which, without it would've made the film unbearably depressing.