Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2008)

I remember how overwhelmed I felt when the scene on the first TV appearance starts with 'Transmission'. It felt so surreal. I loved that movie because somehow it forces you to do your part and pay attention to what is not said or obvious. Yes Ian Curtis's life is dull and uninteresting if you approach it with a cold eye. But what can anyone expect with a life well...so short? Like many incredible talents he was about to blossom, this was just the beginning of something much more bigger and intense. It was raw energy.
I completely had empathy for this young man marrying at 19 getting stuck in a marriage-mortgage-9 to 5 job hell when obviously he was meant for something different. Paying the consequences for a decision taken too young, and being propelled to fame so quickly unable to cope with the pressure and energy that it takes when it was obvious he'd never make it very far. I hope the people who will watch the film will remember this and the context of the 70's. I think Corbijn did a fine job at portraying the desperate situation Ian Curtis was in, doubled with illness and depression. Sam Riley is incredibly convincing at portraying these feelings, the guilt, the doubts, the inevitable spiral where Ian Curtis was doomed to fall.
The choice of shooting the film in B&W was of course intentional and as Corbijn said, I too cannot think of the film being shot in colour. It perfectly renders the darkness and sober atmosphere of JD's world. The film is full of strong contrasts which completely defines what JD's music feels to me: Energetic Depressive