Review of Control (2007) by Naische F — 05 Jan 2009
Famed black and white photographer Anton Corbijn has an impressive directorial debut featuring the life and times of Ian Curtis, the late singer of British pioneering band 'Joy Division' (who would later become 'New Order' and could have been bigger than U2).
Anyone familiar with Corbijn's work, especially in those black-and-white music videos of Depeche Mode, U2 and REM will enjoy this feature! The film pays the highest respects to the band and its members and gives the fans their just desserts.
The movie has the look and feel of a music-video, but not of one that moves quickly with choppy editing, as seen amongst many of today's contenders. We get to listen to many of the band's landmark tunes at different moments of the film.
It was also a nice touch to hear pieces from other bands around the time during different scenes that influenced the band from David Bowie to Kraftwerk. Overall, the movie is quite different from your standard musical-bios.
It has the feel of a Euro art-house production, more in common with a German or Sweedish movie than a British movie, but the scenes flow well and the acting is top-notch. The lead actor really brings the ghost of Ian Curtis back in his performance.
The fans will love this, but I think that it may be hard for someone with no prior knowledge of the band or material to get into this. Great as a late night Curtis spooker feature!
This review of Control (2007) was written by Naische F on 05 Jan 2009.
Control has generally received very positive reviews.
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