The independent Directors’
Fortnight programme opened last night, with
href="http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0179221/">Anton Corbijn’s
href="http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/">Control. It’s the Dutch-born
photographer and video maker’s debut feature film, and tells the story of Ian
Curtis, who fronted Manchester post-punk band Joy Division until his suicide, 27
years ago today, May 18 1980. Control focuses more on Curtis’ travails
and torments than his music, although the live segments raised the hairs on the
neck of this particular Joy Division fan.
Newcomer Sam Riley, who
previously had a tiny role playing Fall singer Mark E Smith in
href="http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0274309/">24 Hour Party
People (a film that covers some of the same ground,
coincidentally), knocks the ball out of the park as Curtis, the increasingly
disturbed epilepsy sufferer who was unable to effectively articulate the torment
he felt over his infidelity to his devoted wife Debbie, when he fell deeply in
love with Belgian embassy worker/fanzine writer Annik Honore. The script is
based on Deborah Curtis’ published account of these times, Touching from a
Distance, as well as extensive interviews with subjects including Honore
and Curtis’ fellow band members, ie New Order.
Shot strikingly in black-and-white, the film, which begins in 1973 when Ian
and Debbie first met, is authentically reminiscent of the Northern kitchen-sink
dramas of the 1960s. Macclesfield in the 1970s wasn’t so very different. The
narrative is told simply and chronologically, giving space for the actors to
play the parts and hook you in. This story doesn’t need any gimmicks or tricksy
structure for impact. The often hit-and-miss
href="http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0608090/">Samantha Morton is achingly tender
as the wife who gets left behind – a subtle, finely judged performance.
href="http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm1527905/">Toby Kebbell (
href="http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0419677/">Dead Man’s Shoes) is a
standout as the band’s manager Rob Gretton.
href="http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0487884/">Alexandra Maria Lara (
href="http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/">Downfall) is subdued in the
under-written role of Honore.
A voiceover by Riley helps give the audience more access to the elusive,
possibly evasive Curtis. A chat with one of the actors at the after-party last
night confirmed my suspicions that this was added later during the edit – but it
is a successful, unobtrusive device.
