It maybe myth, but it's some darn fine film making

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2007)

In "24 Hour Party People," the character Tony Wilson quips that when it comes down to choosing between truth and legend that the legend makes a better story. Many Joy Division fans (and from news reports, members of the band) felt that Control bought into the myths surrounding the band: The contract signed in blood, that Ian Curtis was this dark mysterious figure and perhaps that the whole Joy Division story was depressing as their music.
So while 24 Hour Party People was a kind of fun, tongue in cheek take on some of the era, Control is something of the antithesis of that. It may also be a little biased as some of it was based on Ian Curtis's estranged wife's book. But Corbijn's camera is so focused that truth or not, this is a fine movie.
Anton Corbijn's film reminds me of indie films of an era past. When Jim Jarmusch started making movies he used black and white, long takes and stark looks at the film's characters. That's sort of what Corbijn does. It's not a stretch from his photography. Control is a portrait of Ian Curtis, possibly more as myth than actual man, but a portrait nonetheless.
Sam Riley has a lot resting on his shoulders in this performance, as he plays a man who is somewhat getting lost in his own world, growing distant from the world around him, often at a loss for words in every part of his life, but his music. He sees something that moves him, like a girl going into an epileptic seizure, and gazes at it and writes about it. That this film will be a blip on many US audiences' radar is a real shame because this performance is golden.
Control is emotional without being melodramatic. There's a simplicity in the style of the film and performances that allow emotions to flow all over the screen. But they are sad ones. If I have a complaint about the film it's that it lacks any sort of real humor. That maybe the problem with buying into the myth, but I guess with Ian Curtis's story you can't be wishing for happy endings.