Recently released on DVD, Control is a movie well worth a look for fans of post-punk.

What follows will be a few of my thoughts on Anton Corbijn's feature film debut, Control. Based on Touching From a Distance, Deborah Curtis' book about her life with Ian Curtis, Control depicts the life of the late Joy Division frontman (Sam Reilly gives a fantastic performance, and even sang the songs in the movie) from his beginnings as a glam-rock crazed teenager to his death at 23. Watching the film, one is immediately struck by how iconic Corbijn portrays Curtis- one need only take a cursory glance at several of the shots throughout the film to get the picture: Ian Curtis as the sorrowful young Werther, forever frozen behind glass in his poetry and tragedy. He is almost godlike in how he is shot. The visual messages are all the more striking in the black and white Corbijn uses as his media.
I found this film, unfortunately, quite empty in places. Devoid of real passion or emotion, the bleakness turns to downright boredom in spots. The actors portraying the rest of the band do an admirable job, but at 2 hours, the film seems paradoxically too long and too short at the same time. Too many key moments in the band's career are either short-changed or passed over, while a couple of key dramatic scenes just drag. However, this is not necessarily Corbijn's intention: this is a film about Ian Curtis, not the band. The key is internal drama and pathos, not the nuances of Joy Division itself.
Despite its flaws, 'Control' is hardly a bad film- far from it. Fans of Joy Division will enjoy it based on the soundtrack and passionate >performances alone. The ending of this film sent the wrong message: a bleak shot of a Manchester sky as Corbijn deifies Curtis, and perhaps romanticizes his tragic end. I wouldn't call Control a total success, but it is an admirable first outing for Corbijn.