Control

Ian Curtis from 1973 to 1980. School in Macclesfield, an early marriage to Deborah, a job at the employment exchange and, in the evenings, the band: Joy Division. Then the epilepsy diagnosis, seizures on stage, a relationship with the Belgian journalist Annik Honore and being caught between two lives. The film ends with his suicide. It is Anton Corbijn's first feature. Sam Riley plays Curtis and Samantha Morton plays Deborah. Matt Greenhalgh wrote the screenplay from Deborah Curtis's memoir Touching from a Distance. Corbijn's connection goes back: he was the photographer who documented Joy Division. He financed half of the 4.5 million euro budget himself. It was shot on colour stock and printed in black and white, to reflect the atmosphere of Joy Division and the mood of the era. Filming took place in Nottingham, Manchester and Macclesfield, the places where Curtis lived. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 88 percent. Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian called it the best film of the year, a tender, bleakly funny and superbly acted biopic. It won five British Independent Film Awards including Best Film. Against a 6.4 million dollar budget it took 8.9 million worldwide. Who it is for: people who listen to Joy Division and want a musician's life told without ornament. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a band story. The film spends its time inside a marriage and an illness rather than the music.