Feel it closing in

To be entirely truthful Control could have been 2 hours of a black screen and Joy Division songs and I would have felt good about it. You see, Joy Division's music kills me. I think most people who say they like Joy Division say it the same way people say they like the Velvet Underground. They like how influential the music was on other bands who they like better. This is not the way I feel about them. The songs hypnotize me and make me want to go to sleep, while at the same time making me want to dance and fuck and scream. It makes me want to live and die at the same time.

Which leads me back to the film which is largely about Ian Curtis' contradiction-filled life. He's supremely confident that success is on its way, yet afraid of that same success. The stage for him is the place where he is most himself, yet at the same time it's the last place he wants to be. He feels his marriage is a mistake, but finds himself unable to leave it. He wants to live and die at the same time.

Oh and it's beautiful. And unexpectedly bright considering the darkness of it's subject. It's also terribly funny in places, especially anything featuring the band's manager. The music is fantastic of course, and it is woven into the storyline in unexpected ways. I love the way She's Lost Control starts out in the studio and transitions into a live show seamlessly, and the way Isolation focuses on Curtis in the studio, dampening the background and focusing on the vocal.

I saw Control at the Harvard Exit, a theater I hadn't been to in 5 years. It's still gorgeous, and I love the foreign movie posters on the walls. I need to go there more often. Hopefully the next film I see there will be just as good.