Two Films on Joy Division
 

Trailer for the biopic.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4nyVWxv6Q40

Looking forward to watching Control

Me too.

pive said it before, control is amazing.
one of the better films made in the last few years.
just a really really phenominal movie.
i cant wait to see what other movies corjbin will make....

Ian Curtis is so tragic... A movie about him by anybody would be enthralling...

Control is really worth watching.

I saw Control. Images are beautiful. Settings are great. Music is fine fine fine and I got to see what made a specific sound on a specific track but I won't tell. And actors playing the band do play every song they're seen playing. It has some kind of documentary value (especially when you look at "Bernard" playing his guitar) and Sam Riley's really good whenever he gestures oddly - plus it is wonderfully shot.
I'm less enthusiastic when the film narrows to Ian and Debbie in tears. But whenever Annik's in the crowd, she's more than a woman at a gig.
Really good but I wouldn't want my pal M to go see it as his relationship with his wife's turning into that of the movie. Hopefully, his tastes in music will keep him away from it.

I was looking forward to watching Control at my cinema today, but instead
found out they arent frigging showing it. They prefer to show hundred's of films focusing around animated penguins.

I can't wait to see it.

Mark Kermode said control was great, so thats good enough for me.

And another point, he liked the fact the actors play all the songs themselves rather than dubbing Joy Division themselves over their performance - i think this is a good thing also, like how they do in Walk The Line. In that film it made the atmosphere of the film feel more real, so im lookin forward to seeing Control.

I was expecting it to be good and it turned out to be quite good.

Did you have high expectations of it? I kinda have low expectations just because I didnt like 24 hour party people's way of doing it. I dunno, there are loads of photos of Ian Curtis and Joy Division that are very iconic and beautiful and I hope that the film has that same sense of aesthetic even if there are technical imperfections - like the way the music isnt perfect but the concept of the group and Ian Curtis' personality are where I get the most pleasure out of them.

I see what you mean. The film is beautifully shot and an effort has been made to give it that grey/black aura that comes from thinking of Ian Curtis and Joy Division, both musicially and aesthetically. I too didn't particularly like 24 Hour Party People , so I wasn't expecting a masterpiece either, plus I rarely enjoy big budget movies about musicians in general, but this one I had a feeling it might be a good one and it was a rare case when I didn't regret watching a movie at all.

Joy Division is more an aesthetic band than a purely musical one though, which is why this aspect of the film is important. Bit like The Velvet Underground as far as i see. I find most Velvet Underground music to be tedious, except the John Cale songs - The Gift, Venus In Furs - But i appreciate the things that are beyond the actual music. Im not an art or music student so i have little academic background with which to justify such an opinion, but hey ho. Ive gone off topic a bit there but i think my point segues.

i wanna see control

i saw it today at Film Forum here in nyc.
it actually blew me away how deeply moving and beautiful the film's portrayal of Ian is.
and the music sounded so great, so alive.
the b&w (the only way it could be done really) gives it that perfect feeling and look.
i went with my girlfriend who had only heard a little of Joy Division and she thanked me incessantly when we took the train back home haha.
and the movie, to me, succeeds in that sense. you don't have to be a Joy Division fan to watch this movie and have it affect you.
in fact, it's better if you don't know who the band is or only know little. the story is so honest and so heartfelt that it has the power to affect anyone who watches it.
and boy.. the music plays such a huge part in telling the story.
it was so good to hear. it succeeds amazingly in that sense.

it's emotional and sad and Morton is lovely as Deborah, and Sam Riley nails Ian beautifully.
and so great that it's directed by Corbijn, who did a beyond great job in bringing Deborah's story of/life with Ian to the screen.

wonderful, heartbreaking movie.
(not without some funny bits though haha)

The film is not showing where I live so I'll have to make 130km, but that seems to be worth it.

It is.

indeed. totally worth it.

I saw Control today. My impressions are the first 3 quarters of the film are great, while the last quarter is not as good and convincing. But it's still a very good movie on the whole, far better than 24 hour people and than what I expected initially (music video directors often suck when turning into film directors, but Anton Corbjin did a very good job as it's very mastered on the whole).

EDIT: thanks for recommending me seeing it despite the distance :cool:

i saw CONTROL and had mixed feelings about it.

from an artistic direction, it was done beautifully, but i would expect nothing less from a world famous music video director. he did a great job of connecting mood and time period through b/w and costume/wardrobe.

the acting was ok, sam does a great job of recreating those famous stares and poses that we have all seen of the famous joy division documentation.

but, in the end, i wouldn't see it a second time nor would i get the dvd. i left the movie feeling like i've learned absolutely nothing about the lives of ian curtis, debbie, and any of the other people close to ian. they didn't touch on his parents hardly at all, didn't even touch on the band members, didn't touch on debbie's parents or even debbie very indepth except for what emotional problems she had with ian. and to be honest, i don't even think they touched on ian all that much.

the movie was way too predictable and i even snickered when he killed himself because of how hokey and soap-opera dramatic they made that scene to be. that scene would be great for POP UP VIDEO. it just got very hokey at many points. it would go something like this: (scene: ian sitting on the floor with a notebook/debbie comes in crying/ian doesn't say a word and scribbles "she's lost control" down in the notebook) (next scene: joy division on stage playing "she's lost control".) that's about how hokey it was. (scene: ian & debbie fighting..."love will tear us apart" played in the background).

it was as if anton tried too hard to recreate the famous still life images of the band. CONTROL is definitely something i could see mtv2 or vh1 making as a "made for tv movie".

usually i want to take something away from a movie, especially an autobiographical. i'd atleast want to learnt something more about this icon (ian curtis), but i feel i've learned nothing more than i did before i went into the movie and i wasn't even a huge fan (i really only liked CLOSER and didn't like UNKNOWN PLEASURES all that much).

that was a great thing about WALK THE LINE. they did a great job of not being so predictable and really recreating a more in-depth life of june & johnny cash. how hokey would it have been if they recreated that scene of him flipping the bird at the show?

in my opinion, it was not a bad movie. i think it was beautiful from an artistic direction, but i thought the writing lacked depth and substance and that left me feeling like the movie was a bit superficial and just purely masterbatory for anton's fantasies.

but that's the price you pay for having a music video director take on a movie (his first). they are going to be a bit more literal and straight forward because that's just how music videos are done.

Isn't the name of Deborah's book "Touching from a distance" ?

From what I've read on Ian and the group (in Debbie's book and the 2005 special edition of Mojo) I think the movie is really good at reflecting how they were.

You're right regarding some aspects of Ian though: the movie depicts him as "nicer" than he really was, he could be really harsh at times. He also romanticised the early death of rock icons, which could have play a part in his suicide (it maybe wasn't all about his love life).

it very well could have been the intention to purposely leave the story "shallow" to the point where you don't feel you even knew anyone. but if that's the case, then the movie should make you understand "ian curtis" even more indepth to the point where the audience can understand exactly why ian was "distant".

i saw a documentary on MTV years ago about primarily New Order but it went pretty indepth on Joy Division as well. this was about '89-'90? they talked about ian curtis and his struggle with medication and epilepsy and i'm positive that's why ian started dancing the way he did because of the medication and epilepsy, could be wrong.

it's not a bad film, i just think it was done purely for money reasons and self-fulfillment of anton. it just looked way too predictable, as if he took every iconic still life of joy division and tried to replicate it perfectly. those who are going to want what they're already predicting the movie to be are going to be pleased. i was hoping for more unpredictability and more imagination. i didn't feel like i learned anything about ian curtis or the people in his life that i had not known before the movie. maybe i'm harsh? probably so, so i apologize to those who really liked the movie. this is just one guys opinion in the end and i'm in the minute minority.

love joy division.

Word. I jacked a newspaper from school because I saw an article on it.
I can't wait to see it 9probably won't see it anywhere here, though...)

They are playing it in some distant city near here. I don't know if I want to drive that far for it.

They're apparently playing in Toronto... or were? I couldn't make it on such short notice, but I would fucking LOVE to see them live.

FUCK! I thought I opened the Text of Light thread hahaha. I'll copy this, and leave it here as a testament to my retardedness.
It's (Control, that is) definitely not coming to sudbury, though.

Saw it a couple of days ago and liked it for the most part. It looks great, good performances, excellent soundtrack etc. The script was a little patchy, some clunky lines/convenient situations, and overall it was a bit by the numbers, but the atmosphere was suitably oppressive, which I thought made up for a lot of its flaws.

Definitely worth a look anyway.

Anton Corbijn interview 1/2:
http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_...ilm=94896.html

Anton Corbijn interview 2/2:
http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_...ilm=94896.html

Sam Riley interview:
http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_...ilm=94896.html

The song by The Fall in the Sam Riley interview is great, maybe I should investigate the band more.