It's Grim Up North

Control - 3/5

This biopic of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, who tragically committed suicide at the age of just 23, is not your usual music biopic. The focus is squarely on the man rather than the music - in fact the opening moments begin in almost total silence. Shot in strking black and white and set in Northern England, this is more reminiscent of British social realist dramas of the sixties (Look Back in Anger, Billy Liar) than the likes of Ray or Walk the Line.

Director Anton Corbijn's background in still photography can be seen in some stunning visual images. It's also very well acted - relative newcomer Sam Riley doing well in the lead role and the always reliable Samantha Morton doing her very best in a part that (rather strangely as the film is based on Deborah Curtis' book) feels a bit underwritten as Ian's wife Deborah.

The film's main problem is that Curtis remains too enigmatic a figure and we get little sense of what drives him either in musical or personal lives. Yes, we see a man who maybe married too young and who struggled to deal with his epilepsy, but we have no real sense of what was going on below the surface. There's just not enough to really hook the audience in or make them care about Curtis and without that it does become a bit of a grim slog at times. Let's be thankful then for Toby Kebbell as the band's manager Rob Gretton who adds a bit of life and some much needed humour to proceedings.

It's very well shot and acted, but is quite hard going at times, without really enough to reward the viewer for their labours - we never really get under the skin of either the man or his music.