Review of Joy Division (2006) by Christine W — 25 Mar 2008

At last, Flixter have added this film to their database. Shown as part of the Dublin Film Festival, this was a great documentary of the post-punk Manchester band Joy Division. This is about the third documentary I've seen on this period recently - with Tony Wilson's death last year the BBC recently repeated several - but I never get tired of rock documentaries and this period in particular.

Highlight for me was the clip of John Peel playing Atmosphere at the wrong speed on his radio show so it sounded like it was being sung by the smurfs - classic Peel. I'm no great lover of the cliche of the tragic tortured rock star (my first thought on hearing of Kurt Cobain had shot himself was twat) and the film covers how the band's image was as much a creation of the media (Corbjin's iconic photographs for instance) and their producer as by the band themselves and was often at odds with their own self-image.