One of the best rock biopic.

Rating: 9/10 (8 August 2012)

Control is a rock biopic about Joy Division's frontman, Ian Curtis. It is filmed in brilliant black-and-white, with superb performances from Sam Riley and from the two-time Academy Award nominated actress, Samantha Morton. The photography was superb too, it set the right tone for the era, it was bleak and depressingly beautiful. The director Anton Corbijn has photographed Joy Division in his early years, so he's familiar with them and he definitely knows how to handle a film about Curtis. It was also based on the book "Touching from a Distance," written by Curtis' widow Deborah.
Sam Riley who was relatively unknown in that year put on a brilliant act as Curtis, while Samantha Morton became the emotional center of the film, this is the first time I saw her, and I was really amazed with her performance and so I searched her films, and I found out that she's got a great list and she had been nominated twice for best supporting actress in the Academy Awards. She played the affectionate and loyal wife, Deborah.
The film starts in the year 1973 in Macclesfield, England, "I've wanted to escape it my whole life," Curtis said. And it ends in 1980, the year when he escaped, by suicide. Curtis is gifted with poetry, and he's got some good taste for music and films. He became the vocalist for Joy Division in their short-run. At about the age of 20, he discovered that he is epileptic, it ruined his life, made him more depressed. His marriage is also falling apart, he can't accept he's a father now, he feels that his life won't go that far, and he started to have a secret relationship with another girl, Annik. His wife had found it out, I was very sad for Debbie because she was so loyal and always caring, and she's right about what she said, "I don't deserve this." Curtis is so complicated, it was always his melancholy that killed him, his band was rising into fame when he took off. His bandmates and friends tried to help, but he is unsalvageable. He doesn't want to be in the band anymore and he is pressured by his life and his disorder. No one can really decipher another person, and although there are times that I felt the same way as him, I can never really perfectly understand him. But maybe just because I'm no expert, but I feel him, at some point in his life and mine, we felt the same.
The actors played some of Joy Division's songs, the film is filled with their live performances that again showed Sam Riley's terrific performance. The members of the band were played by James Anthony Pearson, Harry Treadaway, and one of my favorite actors, Joe Anderson. Toby Kebbel played the band manager, Rob Gretton.
I discovered Joy Division when I was searching "Most Depressing Albums" in the internet, I saw "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer" in one of the list I stumbled with. I downloaded "Closer" and listened to it, then searched for the band, I was surprised that they've had only two albums, and I found out that their vocalist died at a very young age, and that caught my attention because I was interested with depression and suicide, then I found out that there is a film about him, and that is how I discovered this film. I really loved their song "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
By the way, the last film that Ian Curtis saw was Stroszek, a film that belonged to my list of greatest films.