Gifted Artist Who Lost 'Control'
- Nov 01, 2007 -
Joy Division left a small output but a large legacy. The British post-punk band recorded just two albums before lead singer Ian Curtis hanged himself on May 19, 1980, at the age of 23.
Joy Division left a small output but a large legacy. The British post-punk band recorded just two albums before lead singer Ian Curtis hanged himself on May 19, 1980, at the age of 23.
Joy Division left a small output but a large legacy. The British post-punk band recorded just two albums before lead singer Ian Curtis hanged himself on May 19, 1980, at the age of 23. But the music didn't die there. The remaining members of the band regrouped as the critically and commercially successful New Order, while the life of Mr. Curtis became rock myth.
Now that myth is brought back to life in a new biopic of the troubled artist. "Control" marks the feature film debut of photographer and video director Anton Corbijn, whose photography of Joy Division helped establish his own career.
One wonders what took the 52-year-old so long to take on the feature form. With "Control," Mr. Corbijn has made a beautifully shot, sensitively rendered black and white film that's as moody and atmospheric as the band's music.
It goes a long way to explaining the inexplicable, why a talented young man with a wife and baby daughter would take his own life just days before his rising band embarked on its first American tour.
"Control" is based on the memoir "Touching from a Distance," by Mr. Curtis' widow Deborah, and the film puts their relationship front and center, even if Mr. Curtis didn't always do so. The movie starts in 1973 Macclesfield. They're both still in school, and Debby is dating a friend of Ian's.
Their meeting sums up both characters. Ian (Sam Riley) offers Debby (Samantha Morton) a cigarette, which she declines. "Can't be in my gang if you don't smoke," he says. "I don't want to be in your gang," she says, with a challenge that suggests she'd like nothing more than to be in his gang. "Neither do I," the brooding boy responds.
Ian soon steals her — his binders full of writing and ability to recite Wordsworth help — and the two are married while they're still in their teens. His walls are lined with posters of David Bowie and Lou Reed, but he doesn't evince a lot of musical talent himself. But when some friends say they're looking for a singer, he signs up, and Joy Division is formed.
Those other band members are immediately recognizable: bearded bassist Peter "Hooky" Hook (Joe Anderson), baby-faced guitarist Bernard Sumner (James Anthony Pearson) and dark-haired percussionist Stephen Morris (Harry Treadaway).
Now that myth is brought back to life in a new biopic of the troubled artist. "Control" marks the feature film debut of photographer and video director Anton Corbijn, whose photography of Joy Division helped establish his own career.
One wonders what took the 52-year-old so long to take on the feature form. With "Control," Mr. Corbijn has made a beautifully shot, sensitively rendered black and white film that's as moody and atmospheric as the band's music.
It goes a long way to explaining the inexplicable, why a talented young man with a wife and baby daughter would take his own life just days before his rising band embarked on its first American tour.
"Control" is based on the memoir "Touching from a Distance," by Mr. Curtis' widow Deborah, and the film puts their relationship front and center, even if Mr. Curtis didn't always do so. The movie starts in 1973 Macclesfield. They're both still in school, and Debby is dating a friend of Ian's.
Their meeting sums up both characters. Ian (Sam Riley) offers Debby (Samantha Morton) a cigarette, which she declines. "Can't be in my gang if you don't smoke," he says. "I don't want to be in your gang," she says, with a challenge that suggests she'd like nothing more than to be in his gang. "Neither do I," the brooding boy responds.
Ian soon steals her — his binders full of writing and ability to recite Wordsworth help — and the two are married while they're still in their teens. His walls are lined with posters of David Bowie and Lou Reed, but he doesn't evince a lot of musical talent himself. But when some friends say they're looking for a singer, he signs up, and Joy Division is formed.
Those other band members are immediately recognizable: bearded bassist Peter "Hooky" Hook (Joe Anderson), baby-faced guitarist Bernard Sumner (James Anthony Pearson) and dark-haired percussionist Stephen Morris (Harry Treadaway).
