Review of Control (2007) by Quecuatzl K — 05 Jun 2009

Wow. Look at the ingredients, the photographer who was actually there and witnessed the birth of this band decides to shoot a black & white film almost 30 years later. You'd think it'd be a perfect combination, but really it's not. Nice to look at, but a great photographer does not make a great director.

It all plays out like a holocaust film, which is kind of fitting since Joy Division was named after an aspect of that whole thing. But rather than being a music film, it's a character study of Ian Curtis and his love life, which anyone who remembers being 23 knows is fucking miserable. He just happened to be dancing and singing in front of hundreds of people while doing it. One problem is that Anton Corbijn seems to portray the entire world around him from his bleak perspective to almost the point of sucking the life out of the movie.

It is in fact the quietest music film I have ever seen, and it raises some questions as to why he did kill himself, but perhaps the things that were causing him problems were the same things that drew people to him.