Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hands-down the Best Movie of 2007, March 30, 2008
A lot of great films came out last year, 2007--No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Lives of Others, and so on--but I honestly can't think of a better one than this: "Control."
This is a gorgeous and skillfully done film--all awash in silvery starkness, in luminous black and white--and all feeling so genuine and so far from anything fake or phony. I am not the suicidal singer of a New Wave band, I am not in love with a French journalist, and I do not think I married too early, but watching this, the movie really put me inside the man's skin.
"Control" tells the story of Ian Curtis, Joy Division's ill-fated lead singer--as well as his unfortunate wife, his band, his manager, his label, and his lover--and it does so without resorting to making it a slick biopic or a phony depiction of celebrity. It is one of the realest feeling films I have ever seen, and yet it doesn't sacrifice anything compelling or filmic to be so. The story plows ahead with amazing music and a formidable drive, with scenes that are artfully shot and gorgeous to behold.
The film's final scenes are indelible, cut forever into my mind, and the feeling the film invokes is powerful. I have never felt more genuinely punk than after seeing this--leaving the theater, I wanted to rip benches out of the ground and attack speeding cars head-on. More than that, I wanted to walk back into the theater, get another ticket, and watch it again. (I'm not really that into Joy Division either--at least I wasn't before seeing this.)
"Control": Best Movie of 2007. And Best Music Movie in Decades. So well-made and flawlessly executed that it couldn't ultimately depress me--it could only excite me. It's amazing.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Control: The Short, Unhappy Life of Joy Division's Ian Curtis., March 11, 2008
Based on Deborah Curtis's book, Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division, Anton Corbijn's fascinating and informative black-and-white film, Control (2007), chronicles the short, unhappy life of Ian Curtis (1956-1980), from his pursuit of art and literature at age 17 (while obsessed with David Bowie), to attending a Sex Pistols' show in 1976 (where he met Joy Division bandmates, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Terry Mason), to his contributions as lead singer and lyricist for that brilliant post-punk band (which he joined the same year), to his May 18, 1980 suicide at age 23. Corbijn, who is perhaps best known for directing videos of Depeche Mode, U2, and The Killers, cast an unknown actor, Sam Riley, to play Curtis, and Samantha Morton to play the part of of his wife, Deborah Curtis. Curtis married Deborah in 1975, while they were just teenagers. They soon had a daughter, Natalie, in 1979, while Curtis was also working as a civil servant at a Job Centre in in Manchester and performing with the Joy Division at night. In his spot-on portrayal of Curtis, Riley not only resembles Curtis in his appearance, but in his portrayal of Curtis's quiet, awkward demeanor. For the role, Riley masters Curtis's unique dancing style while performing (reminiscent of the epileptic seizures Curtis was known to experience, sometimes even while on stage). Beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara plays Curtis's extramarital lover, Belgian journalist Annik Honoré, the possible inspiration for the Joy Division hit single, "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Corbijn's film conveys all the existential angst, emotional isolation, alienation, and urban degeneration of his subject's short life. The film's dark, final scenes depicting Curtis drinking (on the eve of his first U.S. tour), while watching Werner Herzog's 1977 film, Stroszek, and listening to Iggy Pop's The Idiot, all the while contemplating hanging himself are profoundly haunting. Although this film will appeal to anyone with an interest in Joy Division, it deserves a much wider audience for its mesmerizing character study of a troubled young post-punk artist.
G. Merritt
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DVD Extras Enhance This Powerful Film, June 2, 2008
Ever since Ian Curtis, lead singer of the British band Joy Division, died in 1980, he has achieved the iconic status of an emerging artist showing signs of brilliance before meeting an early, tragic end. In Curtis' case, he committed suicide on the eve of his band's first American tour. His brief life has already been depicted on film in Michael Winterbottom's fast `n' loose look at the Manchester music scene of the 1970s and 1980s, 24 Hour Party People, but it was only for the first half of that film. Control draws most of its content from Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division, the memoirs of Ian's wife, Deborah, and is directed by music video maker Anton Corbijn. He not only directed the video for their song, "Atmosphere," but also shot some of the most memorable photographs of the band, making him the ideal choice to helm this film.
There is an audio commentary by director Anton Corbijn. With his thick accent, he's a little hard to follow at times but manages to cover the usual topics: casting choices, shooting on location, and so on. He praises the performances of Sam Riley and Samantha Morton while also pointing out technical details, like how the concert scenes where shot with hand-held cameras and everything else was done with steadicams. This track is a little on the dull side but Corbijn does impart interesting factoids and it was clearly a labour of love for him.
"The Making of Control" takes a look at how the film came together. Corbijn moved to England because of Joy Division and took iconic photos of the band. So, he had an emotional connection to the material. His black and white photos influenced his decision to shoot the film in a similar style. The actors who played the members of Joy Division talk about the challenge of playing people who are still alive, learning to play musical instruments, and the songs. This is an excellent featurette filled with loads of interesting information.
"In Control: A Conversation with Anton Corbijn" tends to repeat some of the information from the commentary track and the making of featurette. The director talks about how he discovered Joy Division's music and how he eventually met them. He touches upon how they shot in Ian's hometown for authenticity.
"Extended Live Concert Performances from the Film" allows you to see "Transmission", "Leaders of Men", and "Candidate" in their entirety.
In a nice touch, there are the videos for "Transmission," a powerful rendition done for live TV with a riveting performance by Ian, Corbijn's video for "Atmosphere" that is haunting as it was done after Ian's death, and The Killers' cover of "Shadowplay" which is surprisingly effective.
Also included is a "Still Gallery" with photographs from the film.
Finally, there are "Promotional Materials," trailers for the film, a blurb for Deborah's book about Ian, the soundtrack, and so on.
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