Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Gian Luca Guaitoli Given the fact that I am a lover of the band Joy Division , there are things that are absolutely out for a deliberately "essay film" as this movie wanted to be:1)Disgusting scene of farts before one concert; 2)Apart from Ian Curtis, the rest of the band is portrayed as a mass of idiots and useless pricks; 3)It is very obvious the influence of Ian Curtis' widow who wrote the book on which is based the movie, in addition to being a co-producer . Everything takes place under the widow's point of view:it is symptomatic that none of the alive members of the band is involved in the production crew. 4)Anton Corbijn, the always sought-after director of many wonderful musical videos , with this film has lost his touch. Four points of view that add up to the vote that I expressed for this film. Thanks

Marshal Begone Film has been waiting for so long for me to watch it. Finally the time has come. And you can't call this time was wasted. Control tells the story of seven years from life of Ian Curtis, Joy Division's vocalist. Film was directed by the photographer of the band, Anton Corbijn and the script is based on a book of Deborah Curtis (Ian's wife) - Touching From The Distance.We need to start from this, that black and white vision was a really hit idea. Colours would only disturb in giving back the climate. Film starts from appearing the Ian's adolescent experiences. Thank to this observation, a spectator can get to know him and the environment he's living in very well. We meet his family and his mates (inter alia, future co-members of the band). Then, we melt more and more into the life of the main character, which makes us his friend, someone who knows him best. Bitter, stretched in time collapse of a talented musician is happening before our eyes.We're witnesses of a range of emotions which Curtis is living, just in the first minutes of the film. Historical events (the band arise) are made with us, we participate in Joy Division's concerts and intimate moments of the character when he's alone with his own thoughts. All Curtis' feelings and reactions affect us. We experience and survive with him. As spectators, we're sucked inside. We're not only the watchers but we upgrade to the rank of co-heroes of the action. The fact that music isn't only a background but also a story, help us with it. Songs are perfectly fitted in plot and every frame is deeply emotional.Watcher which doesn't get the context and is not familiar with the band's music, simply shouldn't watch it. He has to be soaked (at least a little) with the conception and post-punk seventies. Film is worth something more than being watched by ignoramus who just won't understand it.Every frame seems to emanate depressiveness and this specific climate which I'm associating with Joy Division's music. I have no idea how come film creator made it but I'm enormously grateful to him for this. I enjoyed the band's work long before watching the film but after this (or even during this) I fell in love with it even more. It was awesome to hum songs during the seance and to meet the owner of this wonderful voice better. I don't know about you but I don't need more to admit that Control became, indisputably, the next one of my favorite films.

xtian_durden Control is a rock biopic about Joy Division's frontman, Ian Curtis. It is filmed in brilliant black-and-white, with superb performances from Sam Riley and from the two-time Academy Award nominated actress, Samantha Morton. The photography was superb too, it set the right tone for the era, it was bleak and depressingly beautiful. The director Anton Corbijn has photographed Joy Division in his early years, so he's familiar with them and he definitely knows how to handle a film about Curtis. It was also based on the book "Touching from a Distance," written by Curtis' widow Deborah.Sam Riley who was relatively unknown in that year put on a brilliant act as Curtis, while Samantha Morton became the emotional center of the film, this is the first time I saw her, and I was really amazed with her performance and so I searched her films, and I found out that she's got a great list and she had been nominated twice for best supporting actress in the Academy Awards. She played the affectionate and loyal wife, Deborah.The film starts in the year 1973 in Macclesfield, England, "I've wanted to escape it my whole life," Curtis said. And it ends in 1980, the year when he escaped, by suicide. Curtis is gifted with poetry, and he's got some good taste for music and films. He became the vocalist for Joy Division in their short-run. At about the age of 20, he discovered that he is epileptic, it ruined his life, made him more depressed. His marriage is also falling apart, he can't accept he's a father now, he feels that his life won't go that far, and he started to have a secret relationship with another girl, Annik. His wife had found it out, I was very sad for Debbie because she was so loyal and always caring, and she's right about what she said, "I don't deserve this." Curtis is so complicated, it was always his melancholy that killed him, his band was rising into fame when he took off. His bandmates and friends tried to help, but he is unsalvageable. He doesn't want to be in the band anymore and he is pressured by his life and his disorder. No one can really decipher another person, and although there are times that I felt the same way as him, I can never really perfectly understand him. But maybe just because I'm no expert, but I feel him, at some point in his life and mine, we felt the same.The actors played some of Joy Division's songs, the film is filled with their live performances that again showed Sam Riley's terrific performance. The members of the band were played by James Anthony Pearson, Harry Treadaway, and one of my favorite actors, Joe Anderson. Toby Kebbel played the band manager, Rob Gretton.I discovered Joy Division when I was searching "Most Depressing Albums" in the internet, I saw "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer" in one of the list I stumbled with. I downloaded "Closer" and listened to it, then searched for the band, I was surprised that they've had only two albums, and I found out that their vocalist died at a very young age, and that caught my attention because I was interested with depression and suicide, then I found out that there is a film about him, and that is how I discovered this film. I really loved their song "Love Will Tear Us Apart."By the way, the last film that Ian Curtis saw was Stroszek, a film that belonged to my list of greatest films.

Oscar Jones Every now and then there is film that becomes one of those must see movies and Control fits the bill. It doesn't matter if you were a Joy Division fan (although I happened to be) as this is not so much a film about the band-although the performances are terrific- it's a film that perfectly captures a unique period in British music history. Without waffling for endless paragraphs, Sam Riley's acting is beyond wonderful. He is an actor who accolades were made for. I've met people who knew Ian Curtis but it's not the fact that Riley is so accurate, it's the amazing emotion he puts into the role. As for the first time director Anton Corbijn, no wonder Hollywood has snapped him up.