Joy Division superbly details the backgrounds
of the influential post-punk group and its
members, as well as the cultural context from
which they emerged. There are interviews with
most of the key figures: the three surviving
band members, Tony Wilson, Martin Hannett,
their brilliant producer; and Annik Honoré,
singer Ian Curtis’s Belgian lover.
Joy Division grew out of a very specific context:
the depressed urban landscape of Manchester,
still trying to recover from its halcyon days as
a centre of nineteenth-century manufacturing.
The group’s lead singer, Curtis, was a bundle
of contradictions. By day, he worked in the
civil service; by night, he poured his angst into
poetic lyrics for a band that essentially wanted
to play loud and create havoc. Ironically, no one
really listened to the pleas for help embedded
in his songs – until it was too late. Curtis took
his own life in 1980 at the impossibly young
age of twenty-three.
Told through the words of those who were
there, Joy Division follows the early days
of the band and their first forays into gigs
and recordings. But this is also the story
of a city and its struggle to revive itself.
Everyone fondly remembers the past, but
Curtis’s shadow casts a sobering pall over
the Joy Division project. Brilliant and mercurial,
this urban poet captured a moment and
immortalised himself in the process.
Piers Handling,
Toronto Film Festival Programme
