If a film - something I consider PRIMARILY - to be a medium of entertainment, is hard to watch (throughout), can it really be considered...good? To give an analogy, I don't listen to music that's hard to understand or grating on the ears for... the fun of it. This IS a very well-made and well-acted film, but BE WARNED it is incredibly bleak. I also didn’t care for the fact that Ian was so unlikeable in this. After an hour (when the film got real dark), I became disinterested. Bar 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', Joy Division's music isn't my bag either and despite BEING affected by the end of the movie (and it actually lingering the day after), I can't say this is something I enjoyed. BUT, I respect the ambition (it must be really hard to tackle suicide and depression in a film).

Although Control is beautifully shot and wonderfully acted, it fails to achieve its goal of properly portraying the main character's inner turmoil, and ends up feeling more like an impartial observer than a meaningful look into Ian's actual mind, making for a rather superficial (though undoubtedly pretty) biographical film.

"Control" is the adaptation of the book "Touching From A Distance" by Deborah Curtis, the widow of Joy Division's lead singer Ian Curtis who sadly killed himself in 1980 aged 23. Already depressed by his epilepsy and struggling to balance his day job in the unemployment office with that of married life and his band commitments, Ian Curtis then added an affair into the already volatile situation. What becomes clear is Ian believed he did love both women equally and feared both a loss of either of them as well as a loss of control. The troubled life of Ian Curtis was exasperated by the rise to fame of his band at a time when his epilepsy and subsequent fit attacks were intensifying coupled with his failing marriage. Sam Riley is excellent as Ian Curtis, recreating perfectly his on-stage mannerisms including his running on the spot style of dance. Samantha Morton gives a really sympathetic performance as Debbie Curtis, the girl Ian married when they were both in their teens. Joy Division quickly rose in popularity after signing to Factory Records and in 1979 released the groundbreaking album "Unknown Pleasures." Ian's depression becomes completely unbearable when he realises he is about to loose Debbie which in turn would possibly lead to his baby daughters hatred.  "Control" is the biopic of a very talented but tormented artist. Director Anton Corbijn uses grainy black and white to reflect the gloomy areas of Manchester in the 1970's and capture the feeling of the time. This stylised feel makes it easier to give a sense of Ian Curtis's decent into depression and ultimately his decision to end his life. "Control" is both sad and enlightening in equal measure. A must for any Joy Division fan.

Photographer Anton Corbijn's film debut, shot in black and white, highly stylish. One of rare examples of watchable biopic, I'm not the band's fan, but could see it. Score is undoubtedly good.

Absolutely magnificent, if you are a Joy Division fan, this is a must see. Based on the book, "Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis & Joy Division" by Deborah Curtis

I'd like to think this is a fairly insightful film about the life of Ian Curtis, singer in The Joy Division. I can't claim to have known much about him prior to seeing the film - I'm keen on music biopics, so when I heard about this film I decided to watch it. Its all in black and white, giving it a slightly underground or grunge-y type feel to it (which goes with the style of music played), I suppose, plus highlighting the bleakness of the north, where its mostly set. I certainly felt sorry for Debbie. I'd say the mundanity of their married life is well portrayed. The music recording sessions featured sounded pretty decent too. The irony of him singing about isolation didn't pass me by either. Its undoubtedly sad to see what apparently happened, although Ian Curtis was far from a perfect guy but it is a sad story never the less. As a film I thought it was quite engrossing and I'd recommend it on that basis.

I was looking forward to them playing in NYC when the unspeakable happened in 1980. Beautifully done in B&W film as Ian only knew black, white and greys. As with depression there was no color in your life just joyless black, white and greys. So sad that epilepsy wasn't his only problem as he was really wired wrong. I could tell he was also bi-polar too by his lyrics and as with most geniuses: "wired wrong."

Perfectly made movie on one of the greatest rock bands ever.

Beautifully recreates t he early days of the Punk Rock scene in the UK

Has a very unique atmosphere and visual style that is perfect for the subject matter. And explains the devestatingly brief genius and it's legacy well, while being entertaining seizing and poignant all at once.

Great movie all around. I can’t believe I haven’t seen it already. This is the first movie in my entire life that made me a fan of a rock band I’d previously hadn’t paid any attention to. Fantastic script, acting, cinematography, and music.

Beautiful, well made biopic with THE worst sound mixing ever. Very few things are as important as the audio mix when you've got a film about a classic band. They got the right story, the right actors, the right dialogue and cinematography but they landed on the worst audio mixer ever apparently. And it is THAT important for the sound, music and audio to be well mixed in a movie about a band. There's no excuse for the level of incompetence of the mix here. None. Took a 5-star movie and turned it into a 3-star movie really quickly, unfortunately. I have a 온라인카지노추천 that goes from 1-100 in volume level. Typically I keep it around 22-24. That's where it always stays with BluRays-digital-HD audio. With this BluRay, however, to hear the dialogue and conversations I have to go upwards of 38-40. And then anytime music starts playing, it's literally ready to crack the plaster on the walls and blow the speakers. So you've got to turn the volume down to about 9-11 during performances and music. Then you can't hear the dialogue after the music stars and you've got to turn it back up to 38-40. Ridiculous. In my entire library of movies about bands, documentaries about music, concert films, etc, never had any mixed as poorly as this one. They should have given an award for it. It's that impressively horrible.

Great. As a fan of Joy Division this was a very interesting watch. The black and white seemed to fit perfectly. Sam Riley was amazing as Ian Curtis, especially in the performing scenes. It seemed like he really captured Ian's energy on stage. The movie was really heartbreaking.

Very good movie about the troubled life of the Love Division leader, Ian Curtis. Thought the acting was very well done and gritty. But the major thing for me was that smoking cinematography in black and white. Anton Corbjin just knows that film so well, and makes every scene stand out.

best biopic? maybe it is

I was almost going to give this movie all full stars but didn't. This is a rock bio. movie of the lead singer of the band Joy Division(one of my fave bands). Very sad be warned but very interesting and sticks to the truth of the man/his band/life and story.The movie is shot in black and white but don't let it put you off. If a fan of Ian Curtis and or Joy Division watch it.

Imagined in black and white as Joy Division was often photographed by Anton Corbijn, his directorial debut reminiscing the brief eminence of the band's lead singer Ian Curtis weeps melancholy nihilism and punk soulfulness.

A beautiful and very believable film, with powerfully affecting music performances, and always credible characters. Moving.

Introspective and beautiful film that portrays such a legendary figure in a way anyone can identify and sympathize with.

Brilliant movie by Corbijn about the lead singer and writer ian Curtis of the legendary band Joy Division. I grew up with this music and to this day treasure it. Sam Riley does a very good job portraying Ian Curtis and kudos to the actors for actually performing music life and not all bad either. Anyway, corbijn as a famous photographer obviously has an eye for creating beautiful images and he doesn''t disappoint. The story does not dig very deep, but we get an impression and I hope more people discovered this fantastic band. The one star missing is because corbijn obviously still has to learn a lot about story telling, but for any Joy Division Fan this is required viewing, of course followed by watching 24 hour party people, to get more context and because it's a lot of fun.