CONTROL is a model of its genre as it follows the traditional arc of the doomed rock star scenario, tracing the short journey of gifted singer-songwriter Ian Curtis from obscurity to stardom to dying young. It covers an era documented with a far lighter touch in Michael Winterbottom's 24-Hour Party People (2002), in which Curtis figured peripherally.
That film featured a fleeting appearance from Sam Riley as Mark E Smith, the front man of The Fall. This time it's Riley who's the film's front man, portraying Curtis so persuasively that it seems he was born to play him. One of the most exciting acting discoveries of recent years, Riley exhibits a talent that belies his relative inexperience, bringing Curtis vividly to life as the film closely observes him, and he is electrifying when he passionately performs on stage.
The personal insights the movie offers are from the close-up perspective of Curtis's widow Deborah and drawn from her memoir. And, unusually for a music biopic, Control is directed by someone who actually met its subject: Dutch photographer and music video director Anton Corbijn, who shot iconic images of Curtis and his band, Joy Division.
Corbijn makes an assured feature debut with Control, which begins in Macclesfield, near Manchester, in 1973. The bleakness and the area's urban landscape are emphasised in his decision to shoot the film in black-and-white, and it is strikingly photographed by his regular promos collaborator, Martin Ruhe.
Curtis is introduced as an introspective, Wordsworth- quoting, 17-year-old David Bowie devotee. Two years later, he is working at an employment exchange and marries Deborah Woodruff, his best friend's girlfriend. He joins local band Warsaw, who change their name to Joy Division, and Manchester impresario Tony Wilson puts them on his TV show and signs them to Factory Records.
The movie is compelling as it tracks the rise and rise of the band, and the consequent complications in Curtis's life: fatherhood and its responsibilities; adultery with a fan; his first epilepsy attacks; and the pressures and demands of fame. It ends tragically in May 1980, on the eve of the band's first US tour, when Curtis kills himself at the age of 23.
Control is fuelled with such empathy and affection for Curtis and his music that it forms a fascinating and moving portrait of the artist as an angry young man.
Crucially, the casting is flawless, beginning with Riley, and Samantha Morton is affecting and refreshingly unmannered as the troubled Deborah. Toby Kebbell revels in the dry humour of band manager Rob Gretton, and Craig Parkinson features as the late Tony Wilson. MICHAEL DWYER
