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Featuring an appropriately ironic title for a film focused on an intentionally ironic band, ‘Control’ sets the bar for a new wave of mortalizing rather than iconizing rock star biographies.  Chronicling the rise and subsequent decomposition of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, ‘Control’ manages to capture the humanity of the artist without glamorizing.  Do we need another film about music icons?  If you refer to Hollyweird iconography, the answer is no.  However, the unpolished, realistically rendered matte finish of this production is appropriate and even appealing for the sake of telling the story of an influential artist less concerned with his own importance than with creating something that felt right in spite of the trends of an era.

While the film has potential for limited appeal due to the cult following of the group, in truth, the relative fandom shouldn’t matter.  The music is little more than a backdrop that chronicles the life of man - mistakes, successes, dreams, and all.  And the appeal of that story is universal.