Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

A different way of telling a story

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Astonishingly well acted film, so much so that it seems unfair to single out any of the performances. Mr. Lawrence's camera sense is as sure and unobtrusive as his feel for acting. The movie just seems to happen, to grow out of the ground like a thorny plant, revealing the intricate intelligence of its design only in hindsight. As a JD fan, I thought it was done in a way that even non-JD fans could enjoy it. All of the actors playing the JD band members actually played their instruments and performed those songs... it wasn't just Reilly overdubbing vocals over original JD recordings! That is something that really impresses me about the skills of the actors chosen for the band. True, Curtis was a genius, but he was also human... I felt this film was grounded in reality without trying to evangelize/make a martyr out of Curtis.

Shot entirely in black and white I found this film very atmospheric and it also had a gritty realism about it. I thought all the performances were excellent with both Sam Riley and Samantha Morton taking top honours. I also have to give a mention to Toby Kebbell who totally stole a couple of scenes with some great over-the-top one-liners. The story is primarily told from Debbie's point of view and as such we get a very interesting look at the life of this enigmatic soul. This film inspired me to go out and buy a Joy Division greatest hits CD and it's music that's always been close to my heart. I should mention that all the live performances portrayed in the film were performed by the actors and so hat's off to them for making it real. Whether you were a fan of the band or not I'm sure you'll get something out of this one. Be warned though, it's quite a tough watch, even when you do know the outcome.SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDEDMy score: 8.4/10You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

Every now and then there is film that becomes one of those must see movies and Control fits the bill. It doesn't matter if you were a Joy Division fan (although I happened to be) as this is not so much a film about the band-although the performances are terrific- it's a film that perfectly captures a unique period in British music history. Without waffling for endless paragraphs, Sam Riley's acting is beyond wonderful. He is an actor who accolades were made for. I've met people who knew Ian Curtis but it's not the fact that Riley is so accurate, it's the amazing emotion he puts into the role. As for the first time director Anton Corbijn, no wonder Hollywood has snapped him up.

"Control" is one of my favorite contemporary musical cinebiographies ever made, ranking next to "The Doors" (1991) both going for an certain accuracy in terms of presentation of events, their great poetic sense in presenting their main characters and without surrendering to sensationalism, exaggerations (although Oliver Stone's film flies away with some imagination but it's good anyway) . Cinematically speaking, the film offers a view on things that are close to the object investigated, through an careful cinematography that recreates style, the period, the way we perceived the life and work of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. It's art in its great state. Most important, the man moving the whole show is Anton Corbijn, video clip director close to the Joy Division, he knew them all, and he makes of this work his film debut. He couldn't pick anything better and more appropriate for an promising beginning.For the challenging role of Curtis, Corbijn has on his side the newcomer Sam Riley, who is one of most amazing talents to rise in the last years. This marks his first screen credit after a few TV movies but he stands firm on the ground by singing, acting and being Ian Curtis, the late vocalist of Joy Division. There's no one like him, so impressive, so young and already acting like a veteran. His performances carries the whole film, going through so many different stages, depressed, angry, shattered, afraid of going to the stage, romantic. We follow Riley/Curtis (gotta make this association) from the moment of start of the band, the first meetings, then writing lyrics from the things he personally felt and seen (example, how he came up with "She's Lost Control" after seeing a girl having an seizure on the floor on the hospital he worked), the recognition and attention the band got from Tony Wilson (Craig Parkinson), the first gigs, the success and eventually his fall, and the band's dissolution (turning into New Order and the rest you can follow on "24 Hour Party People", which is blasé compared to "Control"). There's also room for Curtis love relationship with Deborah Curtis (played by Samantha Morton), life in family, and his love affair with journalist Annik Honoré (Alexandra Maria Lara), that seems to be used as an indicative of how things got messed for the man. From the beginning we know that he's man with many problems, suffered with depression and seizures that often ruined his performance on stage. His lyrics evoke and paint things in a darker, sad way. Just take a look at their most famous song "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Real artists who make genuine art must reflect themselves, in one way or the other. Curtis was all that. I'm wonder where did Riley took it all to compose his melancholic portrayal of the man."Control" shows the dimension of Ian's problems but just like like it leaves the real reasons for suicide to the perpetrator. Presure, difficult in dealing with fame, the problems at home, his medical condition, the depression, addiction, who knows? All we know is that on May 18, 1980 he listened to Iggy Pop's album "The Idiot", watched one of his favorite films Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" and hang himself, leaving everything behind, becoming an rock n'roll icon, eternally remembered by his fans. He's just control and end it all. It's not our task to judge him. A note I make to the film's great accomplish is by not showing this final moment. We see the ritual (and I want to know how all of this become a fact, with the album and the movie), he enters in the kitchen and the rest is seen through a distant shot of Deborah entering in the house. It would be too painful to see that, we like Curtis too much to see an shocking moment like this. With no lost moments in it, "Control" is full of so many great scenes that is difficult to select just one to say that this movie is special. Walking down the streets with an jacket that says "HATE", the confusion during an performance where Ian couldn't go to the stage, replaced by an uncharismatic lead singer singing "Disorder" and booed by the crowd (the song's inclusion is not an accident); the conversations between Ian and Annik; "Atmosphere" for the conclusion was perfect and the band concerts, amazingly played by the actors Joe Anderson, Harry Treadaway and James Anthony Pearson playing respectively Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner. Outstanding musical numbers!I don't know how much of it was legend or fact or condensation of both, but the true thing I've seen here was epic and it looks and sounds completely real and believable to me. Curtis would be proud of this. 10/10 RIP Ian.