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Control (2007)
Starring: Samantha Morton, Sam Riley Director: Anton Corbijn Rating: R
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| Storyline: |
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A profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to commit suicide at the age of 23.
Control is the biography of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, taking his story from schoolboy days of 1973 to his suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980. In this time we see Curtis grow from David Bowie-infatuated teen to Sex Pistols-inspired punk, and eventually to rising new wave star. The movie explores the pressures he felt, from his epilepsy, a failing marriage, his new lover, and a band that relied on him - all in an attempt to explain his decision to hang himself at the age of 23.
The movie is based on Deborah Curtis's biography "Touching from a Distance".
In his elegiac debut, Anton Corbijn combines the music film with the social drama to stunning success. Based on Deborah Curtis's clear-eyed biography, Touching from a Distance, Control recounts the wrenching tale of a working-class lad about to hit the highest highs only to be waylaid by the lowest lows. Born and raised in Macclesfield, a suburban community outside Manchester, Ian Curtis (newcomer Sam Riley in a remarkable performance) dreams of fronting a band. Just out of high school in the mid-1970s, he finds three like minds with whom he forms post-punk quartet Warsaw--better known as Joy Division (Riley and castmates ably recreate their somber sound). All the while, he falls in love, marries, and fathers a child with Deborah (Samantha Morton, turning a thankless role into a triumph). While Curtis should be enjoying parenthood and newfound fame, he's plagued by seizures. A diagnosis of epilepsy leads to powerful medications with unpredictable side effects. Then, while on tour, he falls in love with another woman. His solution to these problems is a matter of public record, but Corbijn concentrates on Curtis's life rather than his death.
Just as Control establishes a link between such disparate black and white works as fellow photographer Bruce Weber's Let's Get Lost and kitchen-sink classics like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, the Dutch-born, UK-based director presents his subject not as some iconic T-shirt image, but as a deeply flawed--if massively talented--human being. |
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| Cast & Crew: |
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Starring:
Samantha Morton | Sam Riley | Alexandra Maria Lara | Joe Anderson | Toby Kebbell | Craig Parkinson | James Anthony Pearson | Harry Treadaway | ...more
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Directed By:
Anton Corbijn
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| Technical Information: |
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Genre:
Drama, Music, True Story
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DVD Release Date:
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Format: Region 1
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Rating:
R
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Year:
2007
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Regional Coding:
R1:
Will only play on North American Region 1 or multi-region DVD players.
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Number of Discs:
1
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Subtitles:
English
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Screen Ratio:
Anamorphic (16:9), Widescreen Edition - 2.35:1
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English (Dolby Digital 5.1) | |
Running Time:
121 minutes
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Studio:
Weinstein Company
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UPC/Barcode Number:
796019810258
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Black & White: Yes
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Closed-Captioned: Yes
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| DVD Features: |
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- Scene Access
- Interactive Menus
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