battle of the bands

"24 Hour Party People" (2002)
directed by Michael Winterbottom

"Control" (2007)
directed by Anton Corbijn
I hate picking sides. However, after finally catching Anton Corbijn's "Control" on DVD, I couldn't help but think of how vastly different the band and Ian Curtis were portrayed in Michael Winterbottom's ode to Manchester and post-punk, "24 Hour Party People.' Corbijn goes for the emotion and human drama while Winterbottom goes for Steve Coogan (that's in no way a demerit, Coogan is a comic genius). Die hard Joy Division fans (I suppose you might put me in that category) might have problems with Corbijn's choice of contextualizing the Ian Curtis drama into a kitchen sink drama, but I found it to be effective, rousing, and entirely engaging. The contained and yet physical performance of lead Sam Riley as the tortured rock god is nothing short of revelatory. He imbued Ian Curtis with the weight and doe-eyed vulnerability not only as a put upon artist, but as a father, husband, and human being desperately trying to do the right thing. It's a sensational performance as someone inhabiting the life of someone relatively well known, especially when it's actually him and his band performing the songs. Although there are quite a few domestic squabbles in the film, Corbijn reigns in the emotion when necessary and presents the story as is, not as an overly sentimentalized and canonic portrait of a dead musician. Curtis' life is filled with unsaid things and missed moments, beautifully captured by cinematographer Martin Ruhe in crisp hues and shades of black and white. Comfortable sharing his words with the world, Curtis was never comfortable sharing himself to the world. Conflicted with a lover, uncertain about his relevance in music, and bereft of any sense of himself, Curtis and the film simply want you to be enveloped by the music and that is what we still find deeply fascinating.