Control (Anton Corbijn, 2007): UK / USA

Reviewed by Kevin Tran. Viewed on DVD.

One reason why I love film so much is that it’s a culmination of a variety of very different kinds of art such as acting, play writing, photography, and music. It’s rare to see a film that works well at balancing every form of art that movies encapsulate, but Anton Corbijn’s Control is one of these movies.

The film outlines the short life of Ian Curtis (Sam Riley), the front man of UK’s most famous post-punk band, Joy Division. It begins with Curtis’ post teenage years of stealing prescription drugs from neighbors and listening to David Bowie on his bed.  The film continues on to cover the entire lifespan of Joy Division, particularly focusing on how the band affected his personal life with his wife, Debbie, and his own mental health.

The plot is unique in the way it moves through very big landmarks in Ian Curtis’ life in a very blasé manner. “Let’s get married,” he says to his first girlfriend at nineteen. “Let’s have a baby,” he says later. It’s almost comical how nonchalantly Ian becomes a crucial member of what would become the greatest post-punk band of all time.

We learn how songs may have manifested. As Ian tries to write a song, his wife begs him to come to bed. He simply scratches out the words “She’s Lost Control,” which then falls into an entire scene that describes the deterioration of their marriage to the Joy Division song. Corbijn does this throughout the film, telling the story entirely with Curtis’ harsh, brutal lyrics. The music propels the story.

It’s not like I believe this film is great because I think Joy Division is great. Sam Riley’s breakthrough performance is awesome. He sounds, looks, and feels eerily like the real Ian Curtis. Riley’s acting remarkably shows off Curtis’ moodiness. Curtis is not necessarily the most likeable character, but Riley makes us feel for him.

Apart from the performances in Control, the cinematography is also something to be praised. Director of photography, Martin Ruhe’s black and white images are reminiscent of early Jarmusch films and capture that same attitude of feeling nothing. Yet it is beautiful still.

A must see if you love Joy Division, but I’d also recommend it for people who don’t, because chances are that after you watch Control, you will.