Control

I went to see Control, the new film about Joy Division and the suicide of Ian Curtis, with Anna and Jimi on Tuesday night. Although quite heartbreaking for obvious reasons, it’s bloody excellent. I’m often not keen on the idea of screenplays based on real events, especially when it comes to legendary bands and the like, but Control does really well in capturing the enigma, mystique and iconic aura of Curtis and Joy Division. With all of that juxtaposed with Curtis’ home life with a wife and child in Macclesfield, you get a fuller picture of his life and all of its (internal) conflicts. It’s true what all the reviews have been saying, too; the film is beautifully shot, wonderfully grey, and Sam Riley plays a scarily accurate Ian Curtis. As an aside, for some reason they filmed most of it in Nottingham and I recognised two white high-rise tower blocks as being those near Lenton crossroads, extremely close to where I lived at university. Which was nice.

With films like this I always think how odd it must be for the people still alive to see an actor playing them on screen. And, even more so, to have such a torturous episode as a bandmate’s suicide turned into a film. Peter Hook is quoted in the latest Observer Music Monthly:

“When I saw the film in Cannes earlier this year, after Ian dies ‘Atmosphere’ is played, and it’s bloody heartbreaking, it really is – it’s like going through it all again, to be honest. Especially with all the problems with New Order. I’m going through hell and people start to applaud! It’s bizarre having your life flash back like that for other people to see. It's like when everyone laughed in 24 Hour Party People when we lost money on every copy sold of 'Blue Monday' because of the expensive sleeve. I thought, 'You bastards - that's my life, that is, that really happened!'”