Joy Division

Joy Division formed in Manchester in 1976, lasted four years and left two albums. Just before the band was to tour America, in May 1980, the singer Ian Curtis took his own life. The remaining members changed the name and carried on as New Order. This documentary tells those four years in order. Grant Gee builds the band's story together with Manchester itself: a city whose industry had collapsed, emptied out and full of ruined buildings, and the sound of that city. Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris speak, and the photographers who shot the band, Kevin Cummins and Anton Corbijn, are part of the narrative. The film does not put Curtis's death at its centre but does not walk around it either; his epilepsy, the effect of the medication, and how much the band saw of it are discussed directly. Who it's for: Viewers who like post-punk, the Manchester scene, and music documentaries. Who it's not for: The narrative is built for a viewer who already knows the band. The subject is heavy and the film grows darker toward the end.