So this is how it really was?

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2008)

As a Joy Division fan it is difficult to have an objective look at this movie. Just after Ian Curtis's suicide (in 1980) the real story of Joy Division became a true mystery. Why did Ian Curtis kill himself? How many songs were unreleased? What other bootleg would turn up? And is that really Peter Hook or Bernard Sumner singing In a lonely place? Or was it in fact Ian Curtis's very last studio recording? Questions, questions. Because they were not answered, Ian Curtis became a mystical legend, who - like Jim Morisson - flirted with death long before he killed himself.
I don't know which events in the Anton Corbijn movie actually happened. Based on the book by his widow maybe 70% of it all is correct, because even a view from a witness is of course a subjective one. For fans like me it's great to learn about the events that may have happened. In the eighties I always thought that Ian Curtis committed suicide because he was frequently depressed due to his illness. I never knew that he was struggling with his marriage and that there was another woman in his life. I didn't know he worked as a social worker either. Legend had it that he spent his days in a factory; a job so dull that it gave him enough time to daydream, thinking about nice words to put in his lyrics. The beautiful black and white images by Anton Corbijn give the movie Control a poetic documentary feel. The fact that all the actors really played their instruments themselves also helps this.
As a fan you really get a chill during the concert scenes. You could never have been there when Joy Division played Leaders of Men, No Love Lost or even Transmission or Digital on stage. I became a fan when their last studio album Closer was released. Ian Curtis was already dead at that time. Watching the movie is the next best thing. The actors playing Joy Division are great. Sam Riley is a great 'on stage' Ian Curtis. He is also convincing in the drama scenes, fiction or not.
But is Control enjoyable when you don't know anything about Joy Division? I really don't know. Is there enough suspense and drama in this movie? Hard to tell. I read a review by Ian Curtis's daughter (also featured in the movie) who surely sees Control as a recount of what actually happened. She said that the city of Manchester was lacking in the story. I agree. I hated 24 Hour People, but at least the Manchester scene had a major part in that movie. Also lacking was a good view of Ian's many depressions. Yes! I have never met him myself of course, but watching Control I was surprised by how lively and communicative Ian Curtis was. To me in the movie he was not the depressed man that would later hang himself. I can imagine that the real Ian Curtis would have been more down and introvert. Otherwise he wouldn't have taken his own life, would he?
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this movie. Right afterwards I put on my Joy Division vinyl albums and got lost in legendary tracks like New Dawn Fades, Love will tear us apart and Dead Souls. Joy Division and New Order really defined my teenage years in the eighties. As a fan I think Control is a very well made movie, directed by a person who might have been just as important for the alternative eigthies music-scene as well. Anton Corbijn made beautiful pictures of all the great bands from that time (U2, Echo & the Bunnymen, XTC, Elvis Costello), so if there was one man who could do this, it would be Anton. Control is a grand statue for one of the biggest new wave (or rock) heroes in history. Ian Curtis will never die.
8/10