The early morning's Control screening

At the 9 a.m. screening of Control, director Anton Corbijn was surprised to see so many people in attendance at such an early hour to see his "weird black and white film." (The screening was sold out.) The director was the only celeb in attendance, the film's cast, who were in Toronto for the fest, clearly felt the hour was too early. Corbijn explained that he made the film to work through some teenage influences in his work that he wanted to exorcise.

And indeed, after watching the Joy Division biopic, one can see how the director spent much of his time meditating on the moodiness of teenage life. The film dispenses with the mythology and tells the story of four mop-headed Mancunians trying to become rock stars, genuinely excited by the prospect of a recording contract and fame. In this way, it's reminiscent of 1994's Beatles flick Backbeat, though many of the extended, wordless scenes also bear comparison to Gus Van Sant's Cobain film, Last Days.

Sam Riley and Samantha Morton in the main roles are note-perfect, and about a third of the way through, when we hear the opening bars of the first Joy Division song, "No Love Lost," we're already convinced of their genius. Highly recommended.

(The Filmcatcher crew caught up with the director and some of the cast. Watch their intimate interview here: http://www.filmcatcher.com/festivals/Toronto_Film_Festival/day_3/8/ )

Posted on 09/09/07 by: garyc 04:38 PM

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