Joy Division Review

Reviews

Aug 25th 2008 By Jonathan Dean

If Anton Corbijn’s Control was the accessible chorus, this doc writes the verse, adding texture to post-punk pioneers Joy Division and their snug fit with home city Manchester. Ian Curtis hanged himself. That much is known. But here director-of-the-miserablists Grant Gee (he also did ace Radiohead doc Meeting People Is Easy) embellishes what Control touched on through fresh, raw, funny interviews with Curtis’ one-time bandmates. Highlight? A compassionate Bernard Sumner. Throw in the late Tony Wilson and Curtis’ mistress Annik Honoré and colour is splashed on to a rock legend painted monochrome in Control. Thing is, Joy Division have been much-mined of late and there’s precious little here any fan or even cinemagoer won’t already know, while the absence of Curtis’ wife Deborah creates a vacuum. Still, with 40-plus deleted scenes, there’s more than enough here. Completists? This is the way, step inside.