Joy Division gets dramatic documentary treatment

13/09/2007 05:23

By Ka Yan Ng

TORONTO (Reuters) - It was only a matter of time before someone made a movie about post-punk band Joy Division, which has attained near-mythological status since frontman Ian Curtis committed suicide 27 years ago.

But this year’s Toronto International Film Festival debuts two films about the band -- the dramatization "Control" and the documentary "Joy Division."

Peter Hook, one of the three surviving members of the band, said the two films went together well.

"’Control’ is a filmic version and it only pretends to be that. And in (’Joy Division’) you have got the people who did it telling the truth, which is fantastic," he told Reuters in an interview.

After Curtis’ death on the eve of the band’s North American tour, bassist Hook and the other band members, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris, reformed as New Order and went on to achieve considerable commercial success.

But Hook said making the documentary prompted the bandmates to talk about Joy Division and Curtis’ death at the age of 23.

"We never talked about it. We actually cut it off and ignored it for years and years and years," said Hook.

One of the emotional turning points in the film is an interview with Annik Honore, Curtis’ Belgian girlfriend. Producer Tom Atencio .....continued below

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spent months persuading her to make her most public comments to date about that time in her life.

Deborah Curtis, Curtis’ widow, is absent on camera, but her presence is felt with several excerpts from her autobiography "Touching From a Distance" that was published in 1995. The filmmakers said she had a change of heart after being heavily involved with "Control."

"Control" is a black-and-white biopic and a feature directorial debut for Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn.

It stars unknown actor Sam Riley as the complex Curtis as he struggles to combine a home life with the demands of being in a band, the strain of epilepsy, and falling in love with another woman.

Joy Division has often been cited as an inspiration to other bands and musicians, and more than 20 artists have adapted their most well-known song "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

"I think Ian would have been grateful for the band’s success. Ian thought we were fantastic. I think he would have loved that. But the fact that people are upset and sad about death, I don’t think he would have liked, because he didn’t like to upset people," said Hook.

"Yet what he was doing was the most upsetting thing of all," he added, as his voice trailed off.

The two Joy Division movies are among several music-focused films at the Toronto festival.

Others include "Across the Universe," based on Beatles songs, and "I’m Not There," where Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere and four other performers play legendary singer Bob Dylan.

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