Well this week’s throwback concerns both the band and the movie about the band. I finally got to see Anton Corbijn’s biopic about Ian Curtis this week (called “Control“) and I thought what better to tackle as a throwback for the week than a throwback to this short-lived but great band. As I’m sure you know, Joy Division was a band in England back in the late 70s that was critical in the rise of the post-punk movement, creating a very unique and brooding sound that influenced a generation of musicians and fans. Of course their life as a band was cut short by Ian Curtis’ death in 1980, whereupon the former members of Joy Division reformed as new wave music pioneers New Order, who went on to great success throughout the 80s. The film, released last year, covers the life of Ian Curtis, and is based on the book written by his wife about his life and their marriage.

Of course anyone who is into the sort of early 80s new wave/post punk music along the lines of early New Order, U2, The Cure, and the like should be well aware of Joy Division, as their music really paved the way for all of those kinds of bands. Bono is known to be a huge Ian Curtis fan, along with many other artists of the era, and many songs have been written about him or dedicated to him. And of course New Order continued on in the shadow of his death and forged off into a new direction throughout the 80s.

I think the best thing about this film is that it doesn’t get really preachy about the music aspects of the story and kind of co-exists as both a music film and a regular movie about a guy who just couldn’t handle his life. A lot of times historical music films like this are very contrived and forced about the story, resulting in all the music movie cliches that lead to films like “Walk Hard”, but this movie plays the music as just one part of the experience, and they really show the character of Ian Curtis and really show his inner turmoil at the hands of his new stardom, his disease and his failing marriage. I think “Control” is really a perfect title for the film because you can really feel his control over his life and his sanity slipping away, with seemingly no way to stop it. The feeling of desperation in Curtis is brilliantly shown by both director and actor, and they build it in a way that the movie doesn’t just become a cliche of “look at the superstar, now he’s dead”. They do a much better job than most movies of this ilk by not just portraying him as the aloof superstar doing everything wrong. He has his moments where he does have some conscience and the movie is really the back and forth of him feeling like he can get control of his life, but then realizing that he can’t, and that no one can help him.

The performances in the movie are quite good as well, and the movie really tells a compelling story without trying to overly dramatize the character or trying to make him larger than life. It simply lays out the story, and kind of allows the audience to follow along with the descent, rather than just building a giant persona on screen and forcing it down the audiences throats. Curtis in the film is thoughtful, crazy, desperate, and helpless, like everyone feels at times, and the way the movie is put together it allows the audience to really sympathize with this tragic figure because of the struggle throughout the movie, not just because we are supposed to.

The other thing I really liked about this film is that the way it almost feels timeless, like this is not a story that is entrenched in the time period that it happened in. Sure there are the obligatory Buzzcocks, Bowie and Iggy Pop references in there, but the film never throws itself into the realm of nostalgia and screams at you “HEY IT’S 1978!”. Because it focuses so well on the characters it feels timeless, like it could have happened at any time, and that really helps the audience follow along with the characters as they proceed to fall apart throughout the movie.

I highly recommend this movie if you are into their music, or the music from that time period. I think it is a very solid music biopic and is very well done, and the director Anton Corbijn has done well with his directorial debut I think (he is a famous rock photographer who actually photographed Joy Division, along with many others). It is not an uplifting movie of course, but it is not mired in tragedy either. It really makes this almost mythical figure of Ian Curtis really come to life, and you see his brilliance, and his human nature in addition to the tragedy of his life.

Recently they have rereleased collector’s editions of the only 2 albums Joy Division had, “Unknown Pleasures” and “Closer” (released after Curtis’ death). I don’t have either of these collector’s sets yet but I think each has 2 discs, the album plus a live/bonus disc (if anyone has picked up either set I’d be curious what you think). The two songs I have featured below were not on either of these albums, and were singles (”Transmission”) and b-sides (”Atmosphere”), but are certainly two of my favorite Joy Division tracks (along with of course “Love Will Tear Us Apart”).

Joy Division - Transmission - From The Best of Joy Division
Joy Division - Atmosphere - From The Best of Joy Division