Control
After spending nearly two hours on reading Wikipedia articles and the talk page of “comfort women” Why is it so fascinating to read those discussions? The ridiculousness and pretentiousness of Wikipedia discussions make me want to be in the scene – and avoid the scene as much as possible at the same time. I feel the same about academia, by the way.
When I think about that, I realize why I enjoy art so much. Even when I loathe the ‘artistic scene’ as much as the academic, I’m actually much happier with what they produce and I find discussions on them much nicer because of the freedom of speech, the diversity of people and a general higher acceptance for different things.
At the same time, I also strongly believe that being a highly artistic person necessarily makes you unhappy. In the same way I find the portrait of Hagu in Honey & Clover fascinating because she is the only, really the only ‘true’ genius that the (comparably shallow) medium of anime has ever depicted, I think that “Control” is doing a great job of showing the person behind Joy Division’s fairly brilliant singer and song-writer. Being a genius comes with being a complicated, typically rather egocentered person who has problems different from others and hence is difficult to be with. It’s true that the slow pace and the calm, stylish atmosphere of the film makes it difficult to get deeper into the complex personality of Ian Curtis, but I think it still is a fair portrait in its framework. In every moment, I think that the audience is aware that this film tells a story and wants to promote the music and life of Joy Division’s members more than anything. That was brilliantly done, and it makes me want to listen to their music actually, haha.
Similar to most things I am watching, I am not sure whether I can give a fair accessment of how good it is – I see a lot of strong points in this film and some weak points (I especially disliked the simple nature of Ian’s relationship to Annik compared to the great portrait of his relationship to Deborah). The same goes for the music – yes, I’m definitely curious about Joy Division’s music now and I find their visual style very appealing, but at the same time I’m also not able to really get into it on the emotional level.
Finally, I am sure that this film is a feast for Joy Division fans, and just like with Sakuran, the fact that Anton Corbijn primarily is a photographer definitely contributed to the film’s great visual style.
Great, you’ve finally had chance to see it!
It’s a beautifully shot film that really examines the effects of a vulnerable and at times quite sensitive personality who at the same time was quite insensitive – Sam Riley’s turn as Curtis (I can’t believe it’s his first lead role, honestly) brings out the awkwardness and inner turmoil of his character. I can’t say I approve of the things he did to those closest to him, but he was at the same time a victim of circumstances himself in some ways.
I think the way in which the relationship with Deborah was portrayed was particularly well done because it’s based on the book she wrote (I highly recommend it too) but I’m not surprised that Corbijn tiptoed around the Annik issue. He’s a long-standing friend of the band members, after all. There is another film out more recently that interviews the band members and, tellingly, Annik too, so that might ‘complete the picture’.
And yeah, the music was great, although mainly because I was a fan of the Joy division stuff to begin with. It’s more of a film about musicians than music I guess.
I’m glad that I finally came around to watch it indeed. As I mentioned in my review, I approved of the portrait of Curtis in the film and I especially think that it does a good job on not judging him.
When it comes to his behaviour around the people close to him, I think that (at least in the frame of the movie) it shows him as a human. And isn’t it rather a common thing that people who gain popularity and stand in the spotlight are unfair towards the people surrounding them?
Since I love researching on films I watch, of course I stumbled upon Deborah Curtis’ book as well. :) And I believe that Annik is probably the most difficult character to do justice to in the whole story. My issues with her in the film are a little bit silly: First, I kind of disliked their dialogue in which Ian and Annik told each other so flatly that they are afraid of each other; second, I barely recognized Annik’s actress. I have mixed feelings about Alexandra Maria Lara (especially since she graduated from the same high school as me, hahaha – no wonder she can pull off the role of a french/belgian woman): While I found her to be a great actress in all the other films I’ve seen her so far and believe that she is a smart and sophisticated person, I really think that she came off as very bland in this film. Don’t ask me why.
“It’s more a film about musicians than music” sounds so much like BECK, haha. But it’s true, humans ultimately are more interesting than music, I suppose. They are even more interesting when related to music.
OMG I totally did not recognize AML either!
Then I read that she and Riley were a couple and thought “huh?”. Then i checked imdb and she popped up in the cast list and I realized.