Dir: Grant Gee
Starring: Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris
Two films based on Joy Division in the space of seven months? At first glance it seems like this documentary is driving down the slipstream of Control’s recent success; it has taken nearly thirty years for one to arrive, so why not welcome in two? Yet, although both pick on the key points of the short lifespan of the band and the iconic nature of Macclesfield’s most famous musical export Ian Curtis, the interview format of Joy Division offers new answers to lingering questions. It also shows clips that the fictional Control could not and emphasises what director Gee sees as the rejuvenation of Manchester, following its post-industrial revolution slump.
As tends to be the case with bands fronted by a troubled soul, whose lyrical tales can be related directly back to real-life inner turmoil, hindsight points to the potential prevention of the seemingly inevitable. Members of the Joy Division phoenix band New Order have their say, with a mixture of emotions including both fondness and anger. There are contributions from Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley, renowned journalists including Paul Morley and, notably, Curtis’ Belgian beau Annik Honoré. His wife Deborah Curtis speaks, through snippets from her infamous book Touching From A Distance.
There is certainly enough here to add to your knowledge of Joy Division folklore, while lightening some aspects of the story’s mounting bleakness with humorous asides from the time by the likes of Tony Wilson and John Peel. For fans this is a must, but even for those fresh to post-punk era Manchester, the cinematography of Mancunian landscapes old and new serves as a compelling pictorial history, even if it is, at times, through tinted-spectacles.
Out Friday 2nd May
7/10
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