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Singer’s life portrayed in black, white and grey
CONTROL
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Certificate 15
ANYONE who grew up in the rock’n’roll world of the 1970s should remember Joy Division, the Manchester band whose hit album was Unknown Pleasures. But are they worth a movie?
More to the point, is the short life of lead singer Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) who burned out and hanged himself in 1980 at the age of 23, worth two hours of our time?
On this black-and-white showing from Dutch director Anton Corbijn, I’d say no.
Despite awards at Cannes and Edinburgh, the film is as overcast as a wintry sky, and as downbeat and depressing as its locations of mean streets and smoky pubs. Our anti-hero’s inability to articulate more than a few words at a time doesn’t help.
The only saving grace I could find was a superbly moving performance from Samantha Morton who finds her husband inexorably becoming a stranger under their own roof.
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