"Control"

Although it is, in point of fact, a biographical drama about the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, Control, the debut feature by photographer/video director Anton Corbijn is such a convincing, intimate and beautiful film that to refer to it as a biopic seems deeply cheap. The movie enjoyed a triumphant screening at the inaugural evening of the Director’s Fortnight here at Cannes, although (as with last year’s The Host, which also played this segment of the fest) Corbijn’s picture is more than strong enough to be competition fare.

Wow. That sounded kind of Variety-esque, didn’t it? I’m just trying to rein myself in, because truth to tell this movie BLEW ME AWAY and I don’t wanna get too gushy. But to hell with it. Here I gush.

This remarkably frank and empathetic film, shot in stunning black and white (Martin Ruhe was the cinematographer, although anyone familiar with Corbijn’s photographic work knows the guy is an artist with monochrome), begins in Northern England in 1973 with Curtis a typically uncommunicative and arty teen in thrall to Bowie and Roxy Music. It follows him into young love, too-young marriage, his meeting with the musicians who would make up Joy Division, young cult stardom, too-young fatherhood, discovery that he has epilepsy, young second love, domestic strife, depression…all the way up to his suicide in 1980—at age 23!—mere days before Joy Division was to start its first U.S. tour.

Corbijn himself photographed Joy Division, and he directed the video for Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” so he knows from what the media calls “doomed rock stars.” Which makes it all the more wonderful that Control never dips into the morass of doomed-rock-star cliché. Curtis here is a hugely sympathetic character who’s never romanticized, and when he’s being a shit Corbijn lets him be a shit; there’s no “he ain’t no delinquent, he’s misunderstood” nonsense here. What’s most extraordinary about the first three-quarters of the film is how it shows, but never tells; there’s no psychologizing and there are no attempts to put you “inside” Curtis’ head. As Curtis sees his world further spiraling out of control, though, Corbijn and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh stray from this strategy a bit, introducing some voice-over interior monologue in a scene wherein a band mate tries to sooth Curtis via hypnosis. This is hardly disastrous, but I would have enjoyed seeing Corbijn and Greenhalgh really stick to their guns on this point.

A minor quibble, though. Very minor. Because, among other things I'll get to at another time, the cast of Control is stunning. The picture’s best-known actor is Samantha Morton, who plays Curtis’ gentle wife Debbie, whose strength emerges when Curtis strays rather willfully into an affair with an intriguing Belgian (Alexandra Maria Lara). (The real-life Deborah Curtis is a producer of the film, which is based on her courageous memoir Touching From A Distance.) Toby Kebbel is hilarious as the band’s voluble, profane manager Rob Gretton. And there are all the others, all of them; not a false note in the bunch. But Sam Riley, who plays Curtis, owns the picture. Curtis hasn’t been in much before, but funnily enough, he played the small role of Fall front man Mark E. Smith in 2002’s 24 Hour Party People, a comic and freewheeling account of the Manchester scene of Joy Division’s day; Smith is the subject of a riotous joke in this film. But back to Riley: it’s not just that he gets Curtis’ jerky dance moves (which always suggested the onset of a seizure) and distinctive singing style so down that it’s thoroughly eerie. It’s not just that he holds the screen whether his Curtis is brooding out song lyrics or ostentatiously farting in the dressing room. It’s also that he’s really, honest-to-God got one of those movie faces that doesn’t even come along once every generation. It’s astonishing. And yes, I thought of Dreyer’s Falconetti. See the film before you accuse me of sacrilege.

Comments

[Aaron Aradillas]

Who is releasing it?

I remember loving the Joy Division scenes from 24 Hour Party People. It was that movie's soundtrack that got me interested in Joy Division.

[Neil FC]

Being a massive Joy Division/New Order fan, i can't wait to see this. As for 24 Hour Party People, it's one of the best and most under-rated British movies of the decade.