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Joy Division review
:. Director: Grant Gee
:. Genre: Documentary
:. Running Time: 1:33
:. Year: 2008
:. Country: USA
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Since a bunch of hipsters and wannabees — from Interpol to Editors, She Wants Revenge & Elephant — have embraced — some would say plagiarized — their sound, Joy Division has been back in the spotlight, whether it's through films (Control, 24 Hour Party People), CD reissues or even an MP3 player!
With swirling basslines and haunting lyrics from emblematic singer Ian Curtis, the band was a major transition point from punk to new wave, and also becoming a symbol for all the black-clad Goths.
Director Grant Gee mostly uses interviews to tell us the story of this mythical band, getting candid stories from the last three remaining members of the group — also known as New Order — as well as from important figures from the Manchester scene, such as the late Tony Wilson (also the subject of the film 24 Hour Party People).
The strength of this documentary is without a doubt how it gives us good insight into the life of Joy Division; the members of the band are not at all shy about telling us what happened, even if it doesn't make them look good: the most interesting moment of this film might indeed be when you realize that Ian Curtis was somewhat a stranger in the band and how his death didn't shake them up that much as they got back to rehearsals a couple of days later. The three guys — Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris — sound pretty cynical but at least you can give them credit for not glamorizing the myth to take advantage of it.
What however might have been expected is that this documentary falls into the trap of becoming more of a biopic about Mr. Curtis than about the band and its music. Of course, Mr. Curtis' fate is closely associated with the existence of the band — just like Jim Morrison was with the Doors — but if you listen to the interviews, you realize they mostly focus on him, rather than giving you a complete portrait of the band and its music. If you're not familiar with Joy Division, there isn't much here to make you understand why this band was so influential. The filmmaker prefers to feed us anecdotes rather than showing us concert footage and exploring each album. This is even more disappointing given that since the remaining members of band were implicated in this documentary, getting clearance for use of the Joy Division archive shouldn't have been a problem.
To make this film successful, Mr. Gee should have instead focused on the music, exploring its influence, interviewing peers and followers, and as a result allowing the public to understand its place in modern music history.
If you didn't get enough anecdotes, you will find plenty more in the extras as well as just one concert footage, which unfortunately concurs that this film is more about the stories than about the music.
Fred Thom
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