Real Review - Control

I was but a lad in college when I heard the news that Ian Curtis, frontman for the English post-punk band, Joy Division, had committed suicide. Their albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer, had struck a chord with me and I couldn’t seem to stop listening to the unusual and innovative sounds on those LPs. What would become Goth and finally Alternative music, Ian Curtis and his bandmates defied the conventional sounds of the era and instead produced groundbreaking music for its time.

Naturally, when I discovered the film, Control, it was an easy pick-up because I had always wanted to know the details surrounding the mythical and enigmatic life of Ian Curtis. Thankfully, the film delivered on many levels, the most important of which was that it didn’t glorify the band or the life of Ian Curtis. Instead, Control presents an honest and realistic look at the band and the events that lead to the tragedy that ended Joy Division.

The plot of Control follows the rise of the band Joy Division from their nascent sounds as Warsaw through the recordings that won the band critical and increasing commercial success. Ian Curtis grew-up loving the glam-rockers, David Bowie and Iggy Pop, and fancied himself a lyricist. As a teenager, he meets and marries his sweetheart, Deborah. Ian finds a job and starts gigging with his friends at night and on the weekends. Already there is stress between the married life and all that entails and with the life of a musician. The solution for Ian and Deborah is to have a baby.

As success begins for the band, Ian discovers that he suffers from epilepsy. Dreading the inevitable epileptic fit that would occur during performances, Ian begins drug treatments but to no avail. Ian meets an intriguing Belgian lady, Annik, and begins an affair. Soon Deborah finds out about Annik and the downward spiral for Ian is in full force. On the eve of the band’s first American tour, Ian commits the ultimate sin by taking his own life.

With great relief, Ian’s wife oversaw the screenplay of Control which was based on her book about Ian. With director Anton Corbijn in the driver’s seat, the script is finely tuned to the dramatic sensibilities of Sam Riley, who plays Ian, and Samantha Morton, who plays Deborah. In a word, Sam Riley is excellent in his performance. I thoroughly believed that he was Ian, not only in appearance, but also in his demeanor. It is my understanding that Sam Riley also sang the songs in the film and he literally nails the heavy baritone voice of Ian Curtis.

With such a heavy subject and depressing conclusion, Control could have easily gone the easy route and portrayed Ian Curtis as the misunderstood artist or as the musical genius that fate worked against. Instead, the film depicts a young man conflicted about his choices in life and the desperation and anxiety that his malady caused him. Ian Curtis was portrayed as a human and sometimes that is all we need to learn from.

Rating: 8

Source Chuck’s Movie Reviews

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