'she's in control'

photo via: movie.nytimes.com


joy division's, 'love will tear us apart' has always seemed eerily beautiful. the lyrics and the tone of lead singer, ian curtis' voice are passionate, yet painful. so it's no wonder that curtis lived a short and tragic life that ended at the age of 23, when he commited suicide. in fact, deborah curtis, the wife of ian had the title of the song inscribed on his tombstone which shows the significance of the melody that has served as inspiration to many musicians that have lived after the late ian curtis.

control, is a biopic of the last seven years of ian curtis' life. the film is based on deborah curtis' memorir, 'touching from a distance.' the film is directed by anton corbijn who first met joy division months before ian curtis' death in may of 1980. corbijn chose to shoot the film in black and white. originally, the actual black and white version was far too grainy and corbijn thought that was another element that the audience would pay attention to, which would take away from the story. a color version of the film was tranformed into black and white, making the film seemed modernized. corbijn chose the film to be shot in black and white, because every photo of joy division was not that of color.

the selection of the cast is incredible, for there is an uncanny resemblance to joy division. after watching the film i moved onto the special features, which had live footage of two joy division performances. sam riley, who portrays ian curtis, performs just as curtis had. although, it is noticeable that curtis' stage presence was more natural than that of riley. riley does not capture the pain in curtis' voice, but that alone is something rare and doesn't seem to be easily carbon copied. not a single interview of joy division has ever been recorded, making it challenging for the character voices to match up to the originals. memory served as the only source of information provided for that certain aspect of the film. the film in it's entirity was beautifully shot and was filled with information as to why ian curtis had been deeply depressed. the love he shared was sorrowful which translated into joy division's timeless music.