JOY DIVISION
Director: Grant Gee Documentary
Reviewed by GREG KING
First there was Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People, which explored the burgeoning Manchester music scene of the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s. This vital, revolutionary city which gave rise to the industrial revolution two hundred years earlier also gave rise to some of the most important and influential bands of the punk era, including Joy Division, which changed the face of popular music. Then there was Control, Anton Corbijn’s superb biopic of the tragically short life of Joy Division’s lead singer Ian Curtis.
Hot on the heels of that film comes the real thing, a documentary about the band itself. Joy Division explores in some detail the history of the band, and explains how its emergence is linked to the resurgence of the grimy, grungy post-industrial city of Manchester itself. Joy Division was formed in 1976, after four aspiring young musicians saw a performance by the Sex Pistols and were inspired to start their own band. From the outset they courted controversy. Although the band lasted only four short years until the suicide of Curtis, at the peak of their popularity in 1980, their music has endured.
The film covers a lot of the same territory as Control, but from a more personal and intimate perspective, and much of the material here will be familiar to those who saw that biopic. After viewing some of the archival footage here one can appreciate what a truly marvellous performance Sam Riley gave as Curtis, capturing his on stage mannerisms and persona perfectly.
The film has been directed by Grant Gee, a noted documentary filmmaker whose previous films have included documentaries and concert films about Radiohead and Gorillaz. A self-confessed Joy Division fan, Gee has been granted unprecedented access to the surviving band members for this portrait. He extensively draws upon rare archival footage, personal photographs, and interviews with the three surviving members of the band, who now perform as New Order. The three surviving members offer anecdotes about the song writing process, the recordings, the internal dynamics of the band, and their live performances.
As well there are candid interviews with the late Tony Wilson, a stalwart of the Manchester music scene and founder of Factory records, and Annik Honore, Curtis’ lover. Although tinged with a sense of regret about the fate of Curtis, the film offers no great insights or revelations.
Joy Division is ultimately a fairly conventional, straightforward documentary. There have been a number of fantastic music documentaries in recent years, including Shut Up And Sing and Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, but unfortunately Joy Division is not one of them. It’s one strictly for fans of the band itself.
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