Control

Photo courtesy the Weinstein Company

Control is a stark film. It is beautiful even when it shouldn’t be, a fitting aesthetic for a film about Joy Division front man, Ian Curtis.

Based on the biography written by Curtis’ widow Deborah, Control tells a more personal story than typical rock films. Curtis (Sam Riley) is at pains to keep wife Debbie (Samantha Morton) away from the band as their fame grows, and as he carries on a disastrous affair with Belgian journalist, Annik Honore (Alexandra Maria Lara).

As the film progresses, Curtis begins to suffer from violent epileptic seizures as his personal life disintegrates. A long list of pills does little to control the increasingly frequent episodes. Isolation and hopelessness overtake him, and one night in May 1980, alone, Curtis hangs himself.

Control marks photographer Anton Corbijn’s feature film directorial debut. His style is perfectly suited to the subject. The images are stark, monochromatic panoramas of a dismal town in northern England, shabby backstage rooms, and bleak domestic settings. This is the genius of Corbijn. Light subtly illuminates the actors in the sparse settings. When Curtis performs, eyes fixed on something beyond his reach, he seems to glow. Maccelsfield is lent an unlikely grandeur. It’s the visual equivalent of Joy Division’s sound.

The actors played the music themselves, and thankfully does it justice. The surviving members of Joy Division, the recently defunct New Order, composed the incidental music.

For a movie about Joy Division there is a surprising sense of humor and levity. Curtis and the other band members are sometimes arrogant, and given to rude jokes with deadpan delivery. Throughout much of the band’s career, Curtis kept his day job in the civil service. They were not instant stars, and international fame was something Curtis would never live to experience.

The performances are unaffected and superb. The actors playing the band bear an uncanny resemblance to their subjects, the characters real and distinct. Samantha Morton turns in a remarkably sensitive performance. Debbie’s love and growing frustration are palpable and understated but poignant.

Sam Riley as Curtis is mesmerizing. An unknown, Riley delivers a debut more impressive than Corbijn’s, successfully tackling the daunting task of portraying Curtis on stage. His Curtis is conflicted and complicated. He hates everyone he loves. His longed for fame turns out to be something he can’t handle. He is terrified and humiliated by his deteriorating health.

The last night of Curtis’ life is obsessively documented. For viewers even remotely familiar with Joy Division, his death comes as no surprise, but it is no less tragic. Corbijn doesn’t soften the edges of Curtis’ depression, and doesn’t let the viewer forget how young he was. Despite the cutting insight of his lyrics, he was only 23 when he died.

This is not a typical rock biopic. Curtis was not a typical rock star. Control is not mythologizing. It treats its subjects with too much honesty and dignity for that. It is a austere, beautiful story of a talented man beaten down by despair and crippled by his loss of control.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival '07

Festival director Adam Lopez and Murder Party star Chris Sharp answered questions from the audience. Photo: Nicole Votta

Conjoined twins, brown knights, zombie chickens and philosopher donkeys. Where do you find them? The Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

The second Toronto After Dark Film Festival opened Oct. 19 and wrapped up Oct. 25 at the Bloor Cinema. The festival, which shines a light on independent horror, fantasy and science fiction films, featured 14 films and over 30 short films.

Communications director Chris Emery said the festival organizers and fans have one standard they hold the films to.

“We always say that our film festival is based on thrilling cinema,” Emery said. “They like the thrilling cinema, they like seeing the film where you’re walking down the dark corridor and you’re not sure what’s going to jump out or try to kill you.”

A Taste for BrainsThe festival opened with the Canadian premier of the highly anticipated Mulberry Street. Set in New York City, Mulberry Street is a zombie movie in the vein of Land of the Dead and 28 Days Later. A virus spread by rats takes over the city and the victims turn into rodent like zombies. It’s a solid movie and the audience clearly loved it. But it feels a bit too familiar. Maybe the zombie genre needs a break.

However, two more zombie movies were on the bill, the zombie chicken comedy Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead and Automaton Transfusion. Directed by Steven C. Miller, Automaton Transfusion is definitely low-budget and the cast isn’t quite Oscar worthy. It contains a political slant that works surprising well, though. These zombies were developed by the United States military. The experiment goes horrifically awry and a remarkable amount of gore ensues.

Wolfhound was billed as one of the festival’s highlights. Rumored to be the highest budget Russian film ever made and with a plot line that owes more to Beastmaster or Kull than Lord of the Rings how could it go wrong? If you went into the film expecting highbrow fantasy, you would have come out disappointed. This is cheesy sword and sorcery fun.

Most pleasantly surprising were the shorts. Short films were shown before each feature and in blocks of nine on Saturday and Sunday. While some of the features regrettably fell into clichés, the shorts were daring and visually arresting. Some of the most notable were the surrealist An Introduction to Lucid Dreaming and A Very Sunny Morning, the gas-masked dystopian fantasy Ambassador’s Day, and the morality tale The Tragic Story of Nling. Latchkey’s Lament and Operation: Fish were easily the most visually appealing films.

The festival wrapped up with Murder Party. Festival director Adam Lopez took the stage to cheers and applause, as he declared the festival a success. According to Lopez, over 5,000 people attended the festival, a figure well beyond their expectations.

While thanking staff, volunteers and audience, Lopez said their enthusiasm and love of thrills was what keeps the festival going.

“We do it all for you guys,” he said.

Lopez promised the festival would be back next year, same time, same place. Whatever monster or madman reigns supreme next year, there will be gore and horror and audience chants.
What do we want? Kills!