Film Review--Control (2007)

I have long been dismissive of musician bio-pics. They rarely tell a compelling story about the musician. Too often, these pictures are poor art, in no small part because they are constrained by what actually happened to said person and also because the musician's fan base expects the movie to tell a particular, simple, and glorifying story. The most recent entry into this category of lame movies is Walk the Line, which was at its heart is really quite bad. It did neither fact nor fiction well. It rearranged key parts of Johnny Cash's life to fit its pedestrian narrative and in doing so, made Cash's first wife look like a horrid shrew. Meanwhile, it created certain fictions to reinforce people's narrative about Cash. It didn't get across that it was Cash who was impossible to live with, not his first wife. She should probably be canonized for putting up with the son of a bitch, as should June Carter. Second, it insinuated at the end that June cured Johnny of his drug problem and it was happiness every after for this great romance. In fact, Cash spent much of the 70s and 80s high as a kite, treating everyone his life like total shit, and nearly killing his marriage. But hey, that didn't fit the neat little story arc James Mangold created, so forget about it.

Perhaps the biggest problem with traditional bio-pics, including Walk the Line, Ray, Ali, and Man on the Moon is that these movies don't trust their audience. Rather than tell an interesting story about Cash, Charles, Ali, or Andy Kaufman, they create boring movies that lead the audience by the hand, making some people look better than they were and others far worse. Said figure goes through a "Behind the Music" like narrative, eventually rising from the ashes at the end, except I guess for Kaufman, but that's because he died in real life. Even there, he looks like some kind of saint when he dies. These films set out to be boring mainstream dreck that you can immediately forget about after you leave the theatre, except to remind you to buy that Cash or Charles album. Sometimes these films manage to steep to an even more execrable level, such as The Doors, about which the less said, the better.

Meanwhile, there is the occasional biographical film that aspires to be something more than a piece of shit. The Buddy Holly Story is an excellent example. Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman and about Lenny Bruce, is another. A third is the new movie Control, about Ian Curtis, the singer of Joy Division.

Joy Division was a pioneering band in the late 70s English post-punk scene. Just as the band was about to embark on its first U.S. tour, Curtis killed himself. He became the kind of rock legend people love--the tragic figure. But was he tragic? Or was he just a fucked-up, depressive kid beset with health problems and a bad marriage? I fall decisively for the latter, but that's OK. Control works so well because it trusts its audience to make these kind of decisions about Curtis and the people around him on their own.

The film follows a fairly standard timeline naturally enough, starting with Curtis in high school. He falls in love with the woman he marries at the age of 19, Debbie, played by Samantha Morton. He joins this band with some friends of his and they start having success. Curtis has some ambition for the big-time, but he seems to lack the giant ego of some rock stars. As the band grows in popularity, he becomes increasingly estranged from his wife and he falls in love with a worker at the Belgian embassy in London/occasional rock journalist, played by Alexandra Maria Lara. He starts have epileptic seizures, his marriage falls apart, he has trouble dealing with his increasing popularity, and so he hangs himself.

But by telling Curtis' story in such a standard way, Anton Corbijn, the film's director, accomplishes a level of filmmaking that few directors of bio-pics reach. He both lets the man's life speak for itself without creating some bullshit narrative and he treats his film as a piece of art rather than a made for TV entertainment, thus creating a more entertaining film than the pablum listed above. Curtis comes across as more real than Cash or Charles--he's just this guy who has a lot of trouble relating to the world, is really distant from people (including both of the women who love him), and is struck with an embarrassing and debilitating illness. Moreover, when he kills himself, I wasn't sitting there thinking about how tragic this was, because Corbijn didn't play with my emotions. Instead, I was thinking that Curtis' issues are problems people deal with every day and why can't he? But then again, most suicides are like this. It makes sense from a human perspective.

Also, the film treats neither of the women in his life poorly. Deborah wrote a memoir about living with Curtis where she slams on his lover, as one might expect from an estranged wife. But Corbijn took this with a grain of salt. None of the three major characters comes out as perfect, but none are vilified either. Rather, they are all people that don't seem that different from you or I, except for Curtis' talent.

Of course, not falling into the traps of the usual bio-pic is not enough to create a good film. The actors do a hell of a job, especially Samantha Morton as Debbie and San Riley as Ian. Both fully inhabit their characters. Morton's combination of vulnerability with a deep inner toughness is riveting. After all, Debbie's the one who had to break the marriage off in the end, since Ian had no ability to end either of his relationships. Morton demonstrates both sides of Debbie's character. Meanwhile, Riley plays Ian as a decent, but messed up guy, who can't really deal with the world. He's only comfortable when on stage, and eventually he's not comfortable there either.

What really surprised me was the ability of Anton Corbijn to make such a compelling debut film. Corbijn is a video director. Mr. Trend and I have had a years-long debate over whether music videos are art, a debate where I come down decisively in the negative. He filmed in black and white, which does not come across as pretentious, but rather as a good representation of the shittiness of Manchester in the 1970s. He handled a difficult subject well and got great performances out of his actors. I think both Riley and Morton should be considered for Academy Award nominations, though I'm sure neither will be because the film is not mainstream enough.

This is not a film that is getting a wide release, but its quality combined with the popularity of Joy Division, means that it should come to your local art theatre at least. Check it out. It's probably the 2nd best film I've seen this year.