The ever amazing Anton Corbijn’s “Control” opened in the IFI today. Corbjin’s first feature film (having previously photographed the likes of U2, Depeche Mode and The Killers), Control is a biopic of late Joy Division front man Ian Curtis and is based on the book written by Curtis’s wife entitled “Touching From A Distance“. The film stars newcomer Sam Riley (who funnily had a small role in Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People, a film which loosely follows the life of late Tony Wilson and his involvement with the Manchester music scene including bands Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays) as lead man Curtis and Samantha Morton (In America, Minority Report) as Deborah Curtis, his ever suffering spouse. Shot in stark black & white the film has the added appeal of all it’s cast members playing their instruments live. This looks like a must see for both fans of music and cinema. I’ll hopefully get a chance to check it out over the weekend but until then here’s the trailer.
-phil
seen it! it’s top!
However the bird i took with me legged it out half an hour before the end “for a smoke” and left. I was glad though. I don’t things will work out…. oh well. I was very drunk the last time I saw her and was clearly making a mistake in seeing her again! She’s not very inteligent either. Enough about that or Phil will get angry….
But the film…. seriously great film. For some reason it’s not as fast paced as I would have expected and it doesn’t quite give you a full story of Joy Division instead choosing to highlight some key moments. It does however definitely gives a sense of Ian Curtis and his troubles. I don’t write reviews… so I won’t try but I will give it a serious recommendation! Definitely go see it in the cinema. The live bit’s are stunning. The sound at the gigs while not 100% true to record (given that it was done live) works brilliantly in the cinema. It sounds like you’re standing there at the gig in the crowd. Shooting those scenes on handheld works wonders too.