Control 2007

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Control suffers a bit from a touch of dry art-house-movie self-consciousness. But that's easily offset by the deeper soulfulness through which the film patiently reveals Curtis' full, almost oracular gifts and the cost of his ordinary burdens. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Methodical and cool, this film is more artful sonnet than fanzine rave. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Sam Riley is fascinating as Curtis, a hypersensitive young man hobbled by his incurable disease, and Samantha Morton is poignant as his put-upon wife. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Riley makes a perfect Curtis, and Corbijn's finely shaded recreations of classic Joy Division performances are so exciting that the movie could've been nothing but fake concert footage, and it would've been every bit as moving as the filmmakers intended. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: [An] absorbing and ultimately harrowing look at Ian Curtis' short, unhappy life. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A steady and moving memorial to a man who rarely felt comfortable in his own skin. Read more

John Wenzel, Denver Post: The film nails both the malaise and creative vigor of Curtis' short, bruised and chillingly relatable life. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Control goes past the cliches of punk rock-god gloom to offer a snapshot of alienation that's shockingly humane. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Riley gives a star-making performance as the complicated Curtis, and gets more points for convincing director Corbijn, who has shot the film in moody, monochromatic wide-screen black-and-white. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Ian's trapped between insurrection and guilt, and so is Corbijn's film which mires itself in the artist's bourgeoisie dramas without figuring out how they influenced his music. Read more

Tim Grierson, L.A. Weekly: Control honors its subject's eternal self-doubt by honing in on that truth and leaving the legend to others. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Control keeps you riveted in ways that 24 Hour Party People doesn't; primarily because of the investment of craft and conviction by all concerned. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Control" has an unmistakable pulse: a wiry, electric tension between the extraordinary spectacle of Curtis at maximum surge and the dented ordinariness of which his undear life, like ours, was mostly composed. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: The film leaves you with the impression of an almost painfully innocent young singer, for whom alienation was, alas, far more than a pose. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Newcomer Riley is a revelation himself. He's the physical spitting image of Curtis, thin with fragile features, and his impressions of Curtis' violently jerky stage mannerisms are dead-on. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Control seems an honest tribute to a haggard ghost. It'll inspire many a young viewer looking for tips about the workings of self-torture and famous doom. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The movie examines a life -- and a death -- without getting deep about it. The result is oddly exhilarating. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Story-wise, this picture doesn't break new ground; this is a tale that one can find littered throughout the pages of history both recent and long ago, but the way Corbijn has presented it gives it a freshness and fervor that makes it worth sampling. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The extraordinary achievement of Control is that it works simultaneously as a musical biopic and the story of a life. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Instead of painting a tiny, cramped picture intended only for the elite, it opens up one small corner of the world for everybody. Control is proof of the way the music of someone else's life can suddenly and magically become your own. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Director Anton Corbijn seems determined not to let the music get in the way of the human story, and his fervor goes too far. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A work of art disguised as a rock-star biography, it's an evocative portrait of an iconic outsider and the place that he tried to transcend. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: A good movie that falls short of greatness by aping too well the behaviour of its subject -- occasionally brilliant, sometimes mundane. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Joy Division has the movie that, for better or worse, lives up to the myth. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Suicide and the lives of artists are two of the toughest subjects for cinema to grapple with, and 'Control' squares up bravely to both. Read more

Russell Edwards, Variety: Somber, sad and compelling. Read more

LD Beghtol, Village Voice: Control is like a wake where the guests forgot to bring the booze and, for the most part, have nothing very nice or even particularly interesting to say about the deceased. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Though Curtis is hopelessly dysfunctional, photographer-turned-filmmaker Anton Corbijn makes us achingly aware of the singer's talent, the haunting poetry of his songs and how, living in the gloomy culture he did, his passing was virtually inevitable. Read more