A couple of days ago I received as part of a sanity-package from Amazon.co.uk Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis biopic “Control.” I had to go the DVD route since there was little chance of seeing this black and white tale of grimy Northern English rock suicide on any one of Hiroshima’s crap-filled cinema screens.

Ian Curtis, for all of you under 40, was the troubled singer of Manchester’s acclaimed and highly influential band Joy Division, who later morphed into the better-known and altogether less-worthwhile New Order.

Being a great fan of Joy Division’s tiny but meaningful output (2 albums and a bunch of outtakes), I knew the intimate details of the now legendary story like the back of my hand, but was still curious to see what Corbijn, a Dutch photographer who had snapped the band in 1979/80, would make of it.

In the end the film had a highly disturbing effect on me. Concentrating more on Curtis‘ personal life - wife/girlfriend triangle and debilitating epilepsy - rather than the career of the band, the denouement left me practically in tears and also with an intense feeling of suffocation. I wanted to scream.

I don’t recall any film ever having make such an impact on me, which is all the more strange since I knew full well the miserable ending of the tale beforehand.

Such was the emotional response, it is actually difficult to say whether the film is any good or not. Certainly one could criticise it for rendering Curtis‘ bandmates as rather invisible, not to mention no insights into the creative processes that led to such amazing and innovative music.

Still, it is the many on-stage scenes of the band that make this something special. Instead of miming to the real recordings, the actors actually played them live, with a stunning degree of accuracy. Of special mention in this regard is the performance of Sam Riley, who has Curtis‘ voice and mannerisms down pat. Truly mesmerising and somewhat eerie to behold.

However, one wonders what people unfamiliar with the band would make of all this. Would the human drama of Curtis‘ screwed-up relationships and inner turmoil be enough to sustain it without having any pre-existing connection to the music? Difficult to say….