WIth a rock biopic (Control) just onto DVD, it’s curious that we should suddenly see a ‘proper’ documentary about the band that launched a thousand dark overcoats in the eighties, and a wave of copyists – spearheaded by Interpol and Editors – in the past couple of years.
It’s perhaps a timely film however, even beyond the fact that it’s 30 years since the band made their first recordings. With the book written by Ian Curtis’s widow being the basis for the dramatisation of the life of the band’s tragic lead singer, and among other things a best of album, this documentary may act as the final word on Joy Division.
The film also arrives not long after the sad death of Tony Wilson, one of the men who ‘made’ the band, and it’s nice to see him Wilson interviewed about all things Factory and Manchester.
WIth Control still fresh in the minds of the viewing public the contrasts between the 2 films are inevitable, and perhaps make the real story even more interesting. Shot in colour (the ‘real life’ biopic of course in arty monochrome) this gives the curious effect of setting the story in an even more sombre light. Grainy 70s shots of Manchester feature blurry kids in the impoverished streets, garish wallpaper, and a series of “things that aren’t there any more”, which could be applied to half the ‘cast’, but sticks to the Factory building, the Electric Circus etc.
The rise of Joy Division and Factory Records is compared to that of the city itself, as it goes from bleak industrial landscape soundtracked by the grimy early post-punk of Joy Division, to the modern city of the 90s when dance music and an affluent clientele resulted in the Hacienda being the place to be and Factory and New Order the names to drop. Indeed, there’s a nightmarish comparison drawn with the city being run by Chief of Police and ‘God’s cop” James Anderton , a sewer system close to collapse, and a burgeoning ‘underground’ of indie acts as the ‘resistance.
Analysing the film’s talking heads and the archive footage, what’s remarkable is the lack of material that director Grant Gee had to work with. We all know that there are a couple of videos from Tony Wilson’s Granada TV shows plus the legendary SomethIng Else BBC footage, but those aside, that’s it save some decidedly iffy audience film from gigs. Plus, we have to add to this the absence of Rob Gretton (deceased), Alan Erasmus (inexplicably not interviewed) and Deborah Curtis, who we can only assume felt her work had been done – thus, there are quotes aplenty from Touching From a Distance’.
Despite these notable absences, the format is a ‘talking heads’ style thing so beloved of all those 100 Great Bands-style TV fillers. Director Gee manages to give the film some of the style of the band and their label, adding in ‘subtitles’ for emphasis, which also helps when grabbing radio interview archives. One of the lighter moments in the film is that wonderful moment when John Peel plays ‘Dead Souls’ at the wrong speed and berates the French for “apples that taste like cardboard and singles that play at 33rpm.” Though perhaps the most interesting ‘soundtrack’ is that of the regressive hypnosis tape of Ian Curtis, as referenced in Control – what may have seen like artistic licence on the part of Anton Corbijn was, it turns out, completely for real.
The opinions on Curtis’ now-revered lyrics by those closest to him is perhaps the most surprising part. Producer Martin Hannett explains how he “hadn’t heard the music” when agreeing to take on production duties,However, the reliance on the surviving band members to provide the story sets the suicide of Ian Curtis in stark relief – Wilson and Annick Honoré believed that Curtis’ lyrics were merely art rather than a cry for help. Sumner and Hook, it seems, never listened to them.
Fast-forwarding to the present day, the final scene juxtaposes live footage of ‘Shadowplay’ 30 years ago with the full colour New Order end-of-the-pier show in 2007. A smart piece of direction to summarise the history of the band in a couple of minutes, and similarly encapsulate what is – for the Joy Division enthusiast – an engrossing piece of filming. Though unlike Control, it’s unlikely to carry much interest from the average cinema-goer, but I’m quite sure that was never the intention.