Control

Went to see Control on friday night with Catherine, at the Showroom in Sheffield (lesbian cinema as known in our household) Directed by Anton Corbijn and entirely shot in Black and White just to make you even more miserable!

The film is a biopic about the life of Ian Curtis the lead singer of Joy Division, who hung himself on the eve of the band embarking on a US tour and what seemed to be global musical stardom, well in an indie kinda way. The remaining encumbants of the band then went on to form New Order the rest is history as they say.

The film centres on Ian and his life, both personal and with the band, its a torrid tale of living in 70's dank Manchester, the film follows Ian from being a school boy to attending the seminal Pistols at the Manchester Free Trade Hall gig. (Where alledgedly all the 150 attendees formed some sort of band, from Morrissey to Bleedin' Mick Hucknall!!!!!!!) Then on to forming Joy Division. The rise of the band and the faliure of Curtis's marriage and the onset of epilepsy, up to his eventual suicide.

All of the parts are very well acted, with Rob Gretton being my favourite, mainly due to his witty lines and bonkers management style. I would definetly recommend going to see the film, if you are a fan of the band or not, in these times of hollywood blockbusters and special effects it is nice to see a film which basically lays everything down simply and tells you the story.

The main problem is that the film has not got a major release and is not showing at all cinemas nationwide, but its well worth hunting out. I would give it a definite 4 out of 5.

Check it out @ www.controlthemovie.com