Control

The tragic story of Joy Division front man Ian Curtis (Sam Riley).

Control is a beautifully shot and well-acted bio-pic that’s remarkably well crafted by first time director Anton Corbijn.

Corbijn shows a lot of maturity in his first effort, particularly in his shot composition. While many first time directors are given over to utilizing multiple establishing shots, especially for a period film, Corbijn is the model of efficiency, allowing his characters to set the period rather than extraneous props, and framing many of his scenes is such a way as to combine the traditional establishing shot with the scene itself.

A great example of this are the many shots right outside Curtis’s house, which shows the vast countryside dwarfing the small town of Macclesfield. Despite the limited screen time, these shots speak volumes and are but one example of Corbijn’s excellent visual sense. Another is one of his closing shots showing the remaining members of Joy Division seated dumbfounded around a booth. Gillian Gilbert enters from the left and comforts Stephen Morris as the camera pauses, a silent nod to the band that would emerge from the tragedy: New Order.

Control has its flaws though. Events unfold throughout the picture with no dates given, so it’s somewhat difficult to gauge the passing of time. Compounding this is Sam Riley’s apparent lack of aging throughout the film’s six-year span. Control opens with an 18-year-old Curtis and ending a couple of months shy of his 24th birthday. That span represents some formidable maturation years on a young man, yet, aside from a haircut, they don’t show on Riley. Granted, I’m not sure how Corbijn could have solved this problem, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

Finally, Control suffers from the same fate of all modern bio-pics, namely that so much of it has already been told. Those familiar with Curtis’s story won’t find any revelations here, just a competent retelling of his tragic fate. While this certainly shouldn’t be held against the film, it does make the material somewhat stale.