Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

bramblebark I started listening to Joy Division very recently and after liking a lot of their songs and doing a lot of reading about the band and Ian Curtis, I thought it would be a good idea to give this movie a watch, since the band had such a low life span and Ian Curtis was a very interesting character.The movie described Ian Curtis as "sad", "quiet", and an "outcast", and I'm sure in real life he was, but in the movie Curtis just acts like a regular guy, it isn't really until he gets on stage and starts performing when Sam Riley starts to transform himself into Curtis with his strange dancing and awkward eye movements. I don't necessarily think this is Sam Riley's fault, maybe the director should take the blame for that, it would've been really nice to see him act more like an outsider that had a hard time fitting in with the rest of the band and society. Another glaring issue I had was that I felt absolutely no sympathy for Ian Curtis during this movie, he marries his brothers girlfriend, has a child with her, and then cheats on her, and then starts to get angry with her for wanting a divorce because he's having an affair. If anything I felt more sympathy for Debbie than Ian, she's constantly making tea for him and taking care of their child but Ian just acts like a total jackass and has a bunch of seizures. I don't know if this was on purpose? I don't remember hearing that Ian Curtis was a jerk in real life but maybe he was? This combined with him not really acting like a sad outcast at all just makes the movie feel kind of phony to me.The length of the movie is perfect, I usually feel like a lot of movies I watch go on for a bit too long, but the length wasn't an issue at all for me-- What was an issue was how they structured the movie within the running time, they should've focused a lot more on how Ian Curtis joined the band, and them growing together, but there's barely any of that in the movie which is a shame because a lot of the time that's the most interesting part of a rock band.The main things that I enjoyed were the visuals, there were a lot of great shots that mix in perfectly with the black and white, also I love the fact that the movie is in black and white since almost every image of the band and Ian Curtis that you can find is in black and white. A lot of the acting was great but like I said earlier I think the main issue might've been directing and writing. Another thing I enjoyed were the live performances, mainly since this is really the only time in the movie where I felt like Sam Riley was acting like Ian Curtis, and they definitely did a good job of mirroring the few live performances of Joy Division that are on video.In conclusion I was a bit underwhelmed with the movie, if you're a fan of Joy Division you've probably already watched it, and if you're not a fan of Joy Division then there's not really any reason to watch it.

reinhardlerch A lot of criticism has been voiced here before, and I am not going into detail about what I, too, think is actually deficient, inappropriate or even completely lacking in this film. Making a feature film about a non-mainstream band or singer is basically an idea I would always wholeheartedly endorse. (Why not, for example, venture to put the life of Mark E. Smith/The Fall, another great Mancunian alternative music act, on the screen -- a truly controversial, complex, ingenious and enigmatic artist with a band history that surely has a couple of funny as well as emotionally extraordinary episodes to offer?) In the case of Joy Division and the tragic life story of their genius lyricist more cinematographic creativity could have gone into the making of this movie than this fairly static quasi-documentary that picks up speed just a few minutes before Curtis actually hangs himself. Exploring the workings of a highly introspective mind in a strictly realist (or even naturalist) cinematographic fashion doesn't seem to work. There are more options for a director to visualise a character's inner world than just using voice-over. We as viewers never get any deeper insight into Curtis' ongoing emotional conflicts, psychic perturbation and his struggle with epileptic seizures and their consequences. A first-person viewpoint would have made so much more sense in this movie.

makalov_82 Ian Curtis is definitly one of the greateast and surely a controvesial figure, people have many diferent visions of who he really was, the young death holds the fault for that but in this special movie i could only see a hollow Ian. You won't know him for this, you won't see a portrait of a real men, you will just see time jumps into important stuff that have no importance if not told into the right way, with emotion and calm, thing that this movie seens like to never had, it's looks like more a compilation of pretty people doing odd stuff in black and white.If you really like Ian and Joy Division don't judge their story by this movie. Important Stuff: Bad Dialogues, Bad Editing (looks rushed), Bad Screenplay Good Work by Sam Riley, Nice Photography

SnoopyStyle It's 1973 Macclesfield, England. Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) is a quiet enigmatic student. He marries Debbie Woodruff (Samantha Morton) in 1975. He works as an employment agent. On June 4, 1976, they attend a small Sex Pistols concert. Also in attendance are Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Terry Mason. Ian joins them as their lead singer. They call themselves Warsaw and eventually Joy Division.There is a sense of disconnection from this movie and a mystery about Ian Curtis. Sam Riley's performance, the long takes, and the black and white photography all make Ian an enigma. It's a slow burn but compelling. The tone is sad and respectful. It's very fitting of the band and its music.