Oh, Ian Curtis
Okay, so I just got back from seeing Control.
A bit of background: a while back, rainpuddle13 discovered that i'd never listened to Joy Division, and promptly sorted that problem right out. I listened to what she sent me and right then and there fell in love. So I shared her joy about a movie about Ian Curtis's life, and then was totally bummed to discover that it was limited release.
However, this week the arty theater in Knoxville started showing Control, and I promptly talked my sister into going with me.
And I looooooved it. Love, love, love.
I am a sucker for the following things: black and white films, awesome music, tragic rockstar lives. The combination of all three was glorious.
The way this movie was shot was gorgeous. I hate that I lack the technical knowledge/vocab to really describe what I loved. But. the black and white really added to the antiqued dreariness and emphasized where this was set in time, without interrupting anything with the gaudy colors of the late 70s. The sets were drab and the way the Curtis' apartment had such blank, gray walls really just added to the mood. As did the way the furniture and everything was torn and cracked and everything just looked *real*. (P.S. Pud: Over the course of the movie, I realized that you'd sent me songs by practically every band whose posters were on the walls. It made me smile! Actually, I was ridiculously proud of myself for being familiar with basically every band in the movie.)
And the way they used music! I admit, i get caught up in things so I don't really catch everything, but as far as I can remember, all the music was stuff that was physically playing in the background only. Like home scenes and work and stuff would just be silent, no filler. But at the same time it had a rich soundtrack, from the Bowie they showed Ian listening to in his teenage room to the concerts - other bands, like the Sex Pistols and whatnot, and then Joy Division's performances.
Me and my sister laughed at the flaily dance, but the movie did an awesome job of showing Ian as a self-conscious, awkward frontman who had more passion for the music than anything else. I mean, granted, I haven't really *seen* Joy Division any - I'm now more familiar with what the actor looks like as Ian Curtis as the actual Ian Curtis, just because I've mostly listened to their stuff, and basically have only read the wikipedia entry as my working knowledge of the band's history.
Okay, really? Possibly my favorite scene of the movie was a simple one. They were in the recording studio, and Ian had the headphones on and was doing the vocals for "Isolation." Outside the booth, the band and girlfriends and manager and everyone were chatting amongst themselves, backs all turned to him, ignoring him completely as he bared his soul. Then it showed his girlfriend watching, and when he finished the producer told him that he was genius, but the whole feel was of emptiness and, well, isolation.
And I thought that the movie did a good job of showing Ian Curtis as a talented, troubled young man, but not as some sort of tragic saint. (This is my problem with watching most stuff on tv about dead rock stars. They build these people up so high that they're turned into gods and icons, and I think in a lot of ways that can diminish the way people listen to the music, which in my opinion is the most important part. This is coming from someone who's spent the last decade hopelessly in love with Nirvana, and who fell hard for The Doors in college, and who has a tendency to watch rockumentaries and the like on vh1 and whatnot.)
And, right, my favorite Joy Division song is Atmosphere. and they played that at the end, over the most pivitol moment, and god, it was heartbreaking, watching Debbie clutching her baby screaming for someone to help her outside the apartment. Showing the rest of the band and everyone gather while the real man's voice crooned from the soundtrack - things like that really get me. I mean, honestly, sometimes just the act of listening to a dead man singing his soul out gives me shivers - I have somewhat of a tendency to madly adore artists who die tragic and young, and there's always that hint of something *more* in their music, soul-baring and intense, especially in the case of suicides.
And, man, it was just a gorgeous movie. I have to stop babbling about it now, but I completely recommend it. Well- my sister, who has never listened to Joy Division, hates black and white movies and doesn't have my hopeless love for tragic rockstars, didn't like the movie at all, so maybe it isn't for everyone. But I loved every minute of it.
A bit of background: a while back, rainpuddle13 discovered that i'd never listened to Joy Division, and promptly sorted that problem right out. I listened to what she sent me and right then and there fell in love. So I shared her joy about a movie about Ian Curtis's life, and then was totally bummed to discover that it was limited release.
However, this week the arty theater in Knoxville started showing Control, and I promptly talked my sister into going with me.
And I looooooved it. Love, love, love.
I am a sucker for the following things: black and white films, awesome music, tragic rockstar lives. The combination of all three was glorious.
The way this movie was shot was gorgeous. I hate that I lack the technical knowledge/vocab to really describe what I loved. But. the black and white really added to the antiqued dreariness and emphasized where this was set in time, without interrupting anything with the gaudy colors of the late 70s. The sets were drab and the way the Curtis' apartment had such blank, gray walls really just added to the mood. As did the way the furniture and everything was torn and cracked and everything just looked *real*. (P.S. Pud: Over the course of the movie, I realized that you'd sent me songs by practically every band whose posters were on the walls. It made me smile! Actually, I was ridiculously proud of myself for being familiar with basically every band in the movie.)
And the way they used music! I admit, i get caught up in things so I don't really catch everything, but as far as I can remember, all the music was stuff that was physically playing in the background only. Like home scenes and work and stuff would just be silent, no filler. But at the same time it had a rich soundtrack, from the Bowie they showed Ian listening to in his teenage room to the concerts - other bands, like the Sex Pistols and whatnot, and then Joy Division's performances.
Me and my sister laughed at the flaily dance, but the movie did an awesome job of showing Ian as a self-conscious, awkward frontman who had more passion for the music than anything else. I mean, granted, I haven't really *seen* Joy Division any - I'm now more familiar with what the actor looks like as Ian Curtis as the actual Ian Curtis, just because I've mostly listened to their stuff, and basically have only read the wikipedia entry as my working knowledge of the band's history.
Okay, really? Possibly my favorite scene of the movie was a simple one. They were in the recording studio, and Ian had the headphones on and was doing the vocals for "Isolation." Outside the booth, the band and girlfriends and manager and everyone were chatting amongst themselves, backs all turned to him, ignoring him completely as he bared his soul. Then it showed his girlfriend watching, and when he finished the producer told him that he was genius, but the whole feel was of emptiness and, well, isolation.
And I thought that the movie did a good job of showing Ian Curtis as a talented, troubled young man, but not as some sort of tragic saint. (This is my problem with watching most stuff on tv about dead rock stars. They build these people up so high that they're turned into gods and icons, and I think in a lot of ways that can diminish the way people listen to the music, which in my opinion is the most important part. This is coming from someone who's spent the last decade hopelessly in love with Nirvana, and who fell hard for The Doors in college, and who has a tendency to watch rockumentaries and the like on vh1 and whatnot.)
And, right, my favorite Joy Division song is Atmosphere. and they played that at the end, over the most pivitol moment, and god, it was heartbreaking, watching Debbie clutching her baby screaming for someone to help her outside the apartment. Showing the rest of the band and everyone gather while the real man's voice crooned from the soundtrack - things like that really get me. I mean, honestly, sometimes just the act of listening to a dead man singing his soul out gives me shivers - I have somewhat of a tendency to madly adore artists who die tragic and young, and there's always that hint of something *more* in their music, soul-baring and intense, especially in the case of suicides.
And, man, it was just a gorgeous movie. I have to stop babbling about it now, but I completely recommend it. Well- my sister, who has never listened to Joy Division, hates black and white movies and doesn't have my hopeless love for tragic rockstars, didn't like the movie at all, so maybe it isn't for everyone. But I loved every minute of it.