You can almost literally taste the grime.
Unlike Control, it has been shot in colour, as is most of the used archive footage from the times, but the opening sequence wonderfully captures the environment in which Joy Division were born: crumbling high-rise flats, constant demolition, open sewers, the overpowering sense of greyness, from the skies to the endless crumbling shopfronts. Deborah has never even shown the second one to the band, which Hook confesses he finds "awfully tantalising". During questions from the floor, Hook reveals that the suicide note quoted in Control ("No need to fight now") is genuine but that it's actually the one from Ian Curtis's first - failed - suicide attempt. He describes the documentary as "the perfect answer to Control". Hooky suggests that the docu-makers had a special insight because of the timing - the band members' contributions were filmed before they were exhausted from assisting with Control. Hook chortles: "That would have been a sight." More typically/seriously, Savage compares Joy Division to "distilled emotion" and speaks movingly of how scripting the film - featuring deceased friends Ian Curtis, Rob Gretton, Martin Hannett and Tony Wilson - had been very emotional for him. Savage professes himself so delighted with the documentary that watching it makes him "feel like dancing". Although unintentional, it quickly becomes apparent that Hook and Savage make an unlikely comic duo.
Well, at the documentary's first British screening, at Sheffield's Showroom cinema, it offers a panel including Savage, various producers, director Grant Gee (who did the Radiohead film, Meeting People is Easy) and JD bassist Peter Hook. But with so much about Joy Division now in the public domain, what can a 90-minute documentary have to offer that Control - or Ian Curtis's widow Deborah's book-exposé Touching From a Distance, with which Savage was involved - possibly have to offer? Hot on the heels of Anton Corbijn's masterful Control, comes Joy Division, the documentary, written by author and original Joy Division fan/friend Jon Savage, a factual account of events of almost three decades ago. Photograph: Rex FeaturesĪs Peter Hook puts it, "You wait 30 years and two come along at once." He's talking about films about Manchester's finest, Joy Division. But Sam Riley is a revelation in the lead role in what is one of the outstanding British films of the year.Two full days after seeing Joy Division, the documentary, it's difficult to shake off the feeling that this story is ongoing, in all of us. Like many portraits of music stars Control focuses on the tragedy rather than the fun moments, even with the late, great, Tony Wilson (Craig Parkinson) punctuating proceedings. Much of the film’s focus is on him cheating on his wife (Samantha Morton) with Annick Honoré (Alexandra Maria Lara of Downfall). Starting as a celebration of the singer’s brilliant way with words, Control is very much a portrait of Curtis rather than Joy Division and both Peter Hook (Joe Anderson) and Bernard Sumner (James Anthony Pearson) remain on the periphery (although mention must be made of the brilliant portrayal of Joy Division manager Rob Gretton by Toby Kebbell). The monochrome is fitting, not only because this provides a rich aesthetic that reaches its apex in a scene in which Curtis is hypnotised in a chair but also since most photos from the era are black and white. It will come as no surprise to fans of Corbijn’s music videos that he has shot this film in black and white.
To his credit, Corbijn has done extensive research talking to all the important people surrounding Curtis and the result is a haunting image of a man who couldn’t cope with the stress of fame, cheating on his wife and enduring a series of painful epileptic seizures. The main source material cited is Deborah Curtis’ compelling book Touching From a Distance, but Corbijn chooses to turn a blind eye to some of the most hard-hitting and often unexplored allegations made against Curtis, notably that he had fascist tendencies that went beyond the clothes he wore. A neat circle is made complete as the Dutch director makes his feature film debut with a portrait of Curtis. Since then Corbijn has made a name for himself for his virtuoso music videos for Depeche Mode and U2.
Photographer Anton Corbijn took the defining picture of Joy Division a few months before lead singer Ian Curtis took his own life.