Review of Control (2007) by Bill H — 14 Jun 2010

The problem I have with control is while it is well acted and uniquely beautiful is the following.

Hold the hipster fashion quotient just leaves a real bitter taste in my mouth.

I mean here was have awesome performances and you do loose yourself in the telling of the story of ian curtis and the band joy division.

reasonable amounts of skill and talent in the covers of the joy division material.

I would isolation is ridiculous .

none of the people portrayed in this film were ever as pretty as the actors playing them.

its as if someone decided to make a movie about joy division using twenty first century hair cuts and clothing.

herein lies the main problem I have with this film.

it is the perversion of the past and yes films do retell things through a filter.

however this is a indellible mark on the film for me.

I think a lot of the motivation behind a project like this of course is to sell back catalogs to the younger set.

all my grumbling aside this film is one of the better tellings of the tragic dead to soon rock and roll fables.

sam riley looks nothing like ian curtis yet at the same time manages to get his mannerisms and stylings down in the live concert segments of the film.

the portrayal of deb curtis in the film is a bit unfair in my opinion.

many of the current crowd of band wagoners out there when this film was released would not even know who joy division was if not for the fantastic book touching from a distance she had written.

the idea that annik was a super model is also ridiculous.

I mean having a absolutely gorgeous woman in ultra fashionista fashion was ridiculous.

the portrayal of joy division as a emo band is what I see and while many folks might not understand why this is bothersome a hardcore joy division fan will get it.