Unknown Pain
Posted on | October 2, 2008 at 7:11 am | Comments Off
I missed Movie Review Sunday, so here we are with Movie Review Thursday!
I finally got a chance to see Control, the biopic of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who committed suicide in 1980 at the age of 23. Though I have their albums and recognize how hugely influential they were, I was never a huge fan of the band. The music is just too depressing and a bit too monotonous for me. (Among non-aficionados, Joy Division is probably best known for the song “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.) I much prefer the band that they morphed into after Curtis’ death, New Order. But I really wanted to see this movie, because I find the Curtis story fascinating, especially after seeing 24-Hour Party People, the first half of which covers much of the same territory as Control, but from a different perspective.
Control is a dramatization of the events that led to Ian’s death. It was directed by rock photographer Anton Corbijn in his first directing role, and was filmed in artsy black and white. (I found that distracting, but it did seem to fit.) The story includes the formation and rise of the band, and stars people who look and sound uncannily like the band. The actors playing the band actually played the music for the concert sequences in the film. Sam Riley plays Curtis as an enigmatic lost little-boy poet. I never really felt the film offered up much in the way of explanation for his suicide. Yeah, he married too young, and he had epilepsy, and he was evidently in love with two different women and suffered a lot of guilt for it. But mostly, he just seemed to be the tortured poet type and so was doomed from the start. Though perhaps I’m not reading between the lines enough. I do wonder how biased the account is, since it was based on a book written by Curtis’ wife Debbie. The movie naturally put a lot of emphasis on their relationship, but I couldn’t help thinking that element of his life (and death) wasn’t being portrayed completely truthfully.
It did make me appreciate Joy Division’s music more, and Curtis was undeniably talented and a fascinating performer. As always with this sort of thing, the main question for me is “What would have happened if he had lived?” Would he have found happiness? What kind of music would he be making today, assuming he was still in the business at all? Would he have become a commercial sellout? Or would he have been a forgotten footnote in musical history? It would be interesting to peek into those alternate realities.
Latre.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 53°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “These Days” (Lloyd Cole)
- “We Came to Dance” (Ultravox)
- “Where You Belong” (Ecotour)
- “Chrome” (Catherine Wheel)
- “Gas” (The Dentists)
- “Feeling Fine” (L’Arc-en-Ciel)
- “My Biggest Thrill” (Mighty Lemon Drops)
Cool Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “destructo tank the tank game”.