"Control" (2007, starring Sam Riley, directed by Anton Corbijn)

A friend called about halfway through “Control.”

“Hello?”

“What’s wrong with you??”

“I’m halfway through “Control.””

“Oh... Got it. “

It’s that kind of movie, and if you’ve seen it you’ll know what I mean it.

It’s not a happy film. It’s more melancholy, brooding, tragic.

And beautiful, brilliant and thought-provoking.

The film explores the few years of Ian Curtis’ short career. The lead singer of Joy Division got married when he was 19, became a father shortly after that, and died in 1980 when he was just 23.

But during that short window of his life, Curtis left an indelible mark on the parchment of Brit-punk’s written history.

The film, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring Sam Riley, captures that period in sharp relief, from the moment Curtis first meets Debbie, whom he goes on to marry in his hometown of Macclesfield, England, to joining the band, developing epilepsy and becoming a father. While all this is happening the band begins to gain a following, his marriage falls apart and he eventually meets a tragic and heartbreaking end.

It’s all shot in gruff, working class neighbourhoods that invoke the Manchester area where the band established its roots, as well as in dodgy, edgy clubs and bars that make a perfect setting for Joy Division’s beginnings – and make me wish I grew up in punk-rock infused 1970s blue-collar England.

The simple, sad story is told using rich, black and white tones and a careful, measured pace.

The composition is so intentional that a simple frame, consisting of a station wagon pulled over on the highway at night, the band members standing in front surrounding Curtis, feels like a brilliant, rich photograph.

This happens over and over again in the film, so that even at its darkest moments, it’s beautiful and compelling – like when Curtis collapses on stage and has a seizure, or when he flatly, coldly tells his wife he no longer loves her.

There was something memorable about Curtis and Joy Division. Their short career only produced one album while Curtis was alive, and a second that was released after his death. But they have become a ubiquitous part of the punk rock genre, and their iconic albums, 1979's "Unknown Pleasures" and 1980's "Closer" continue to sell and critics and fans continue to wrestle over what drove Curtis’ music.

“Control” shows why. His stage presence – brilliantly captured by Corbijn and rendered by Riley, is intense and honest and riveting. You just can’t look away during his final full performance in the film – intense and alive until he is carried offstage, writhing in a seizure as his fans go crazy, or the final time he climbs on stage for just a few gripping moments before he walks off, unable to carry on as his life dissolves around him.

At one point Curtis says “They don’t know how much I give...” And you believe it – you believe that his writing, his performing, his music demands everything he has and is, and that that’s what eventually claims his life – there’s just nothing left.

At least that’s the story this film tells. But Curtis died young, and there’s always a tendency to romanticize those who die tragically before their time – especially when they’re artists or rock stars or writers.

Probably that’s what happened here. But regardless of whether this version of the story is fiction, or gospel fact, it is told brilliantly.