Joy Division

A hauntingly beautiful account of the rise of the band Joy Division. As a half-interested fan, I expected not to be too impressed, but I was completely drawn in and mesmerised by the story. As others have noted, it makes a perfect companion piece to 'Control'. Definitely recommended for anyone who has ever heard and enjoyed a Joy Division song.

This is a movie that is good from beginning to end. Of course the main focus is on Ian Curtis as it should be and there is some rare stuff on show here including a recording of Bernard Sumner hypnotising Curtis.

Some rare performances add to the quality of this movie which is essential to any fan of the band.

Grant Gee's inventive and honest documentary about Joy Division is not just a fine example of non-fiction film-making, but of film-making, full stop.

After the success of "Control", "Joy Division" has a new lease of interest behind it. It is, therefore, very good news to report that the film is not only interesting and informative, but also very effective. It is intelligent, though never ponderous. It is artistic, but never loses sight of its purpose.

The central interest of the film is not so much the eponymous band but the city of Manchester and the time and place which Joy Division found themselves in. Its focus here might tend to the ludicrous at points, but this is balanced by the human stories playing out in front of the northern backdrop.

There is very little complaint to be levelled at this film. It is not a masterpiece or extraordinary, but it is an excellent slice of cinema, knowledge and storytelling.

Obviously, this is filtered somewhat through the views of those who appear (and thus arguable how much is "true"), but in my view it's one of the best music documentaries I've ever seen, and very much reminded me why the band were so interesting at the time. I had a cassette with Unknown Pleasures on one side and Closer on the other, and played little else for a while - so well did it capture the mood of the times.

This film is very well put-together, making the best of the limited original source material, interspersed with well-lit interviews and extracts from Deborah's excellent book. Sad though to see how many others have died even since the making of this.

Joy Division, the mercurial Manchester based masters of dark post punk sounds, who in Ian Curtis had one of the eras most tortured souls.

Directed by Grant Gee and written by Jon Savage, this documentary actually brings nothing new to the table for hardened fans of the band, of which I am unashamedly amongst that number. There is a tendency with musical documentaries to be over praised by fans simply because, well, they just love to see their idols/heroes/inspirations up there on the screen. Grant Gee's film has strong merits as an introduction for those new to the band, for the curious and to those hypnotised by tunes so hauntingly poetic they can reduce you to tears, but again for those who have followed Joy Division and their subsequent brotherhood band, New Order, there is nothing to be learned here.

The absence of Deborah Curtis (Ian's widow) from the doc is annoying, where we are only given printed quotes from her. One can only guess that she refused to be sharing screen space with her love rival, and fellow tormentor of Ian Curtis' psyche, Annik Honoré, the latter of which who is more than happy to fuel the documentary fire. At times this feels like a copy of Anton Corbijn's superb film, Control, only with the real life band members and entourage commenting from the edges of the frame. But then there is of course the live excerpts of the band, which lifts this up to the high levels set by Control and Deborah Curtis' excellent book, Touching from a Distance.

In that, there is the crux, Joy Division the film is essential for fans, to see that performance of Shadowplay and etc etc, it's these moments that make us forgive the narrative, which quite frankly, is a bit of a cash cow cash in. And I really do say that with heavy heart. 8/10