From Toronto: Grant Gee's Joy Division

On what is one of the film's I'm most excited to see, Grant Gee's profile of the band Joy Division in JOY DIVISION...

James Rocchi at Cinematical:

Gee manages a brute-force balancing act here -- layering information on top of more information, cutting between interviewees, skipping between old TV footage and new photos of what once were the locations of important Manchester clubs -- each numbered in sequence, labeled "Things That are Not There." And we do get a sense of Manchester then and now, and even as it was before then -- newsreels depicting World War II flowing into old home movie footage and then stately shots of the city Manchester's become. The past and present seem more fluid than they normally are in Gee's film, like they are in memories and dreams and good pop songs...It should not work. It does, perfectly, bravura confidence leaping off the screen. Joy Division is less a requiem than a celebration; Gee's film is a dense, rich and exciting look at a band who helped make modern pop music become truly modern."

Cheryl Eddy from the San Francisco Bay Guardian:

"While the narrative CONTROL busied itself more with Ian Curtis' complicated personal life, JOY DIVISION takes a closer look at the band's music, rise to fame, and also the roots of their dark, moody sound -- specifically, the city of Manchester in the late 1970s, where as one interviewee points out, "Nothing looked pretty." Just about everyone still living who had anything to do with the band chimes in on the doc, which benefits from director Grant Gee's ability to contextualize Joy Division's place in landscapes physical, sonic, and artistic."

Updates September 16:  The Weinstein Company (who also have distribution rights to Anton Corbijn's CONTROL) pick up theatrical and DVD rights to the film.

Stephanie Zacharek at Salon:

"Gee's movie dovetails perfectly with Corbijn's. He has a knack for nonfiction storytelling: He never resorts to frenetic editing to capture our attention, nor does he bore us to death with expository voice-overs. The performance footage captures perfectly the weird magnetism of the band's live performances. The year 1980 may seem like a long time ago, but Grant's picture is so immediate, and so alive, that it may as well have been yesterday."

Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore:

"Arriving at the best possible moment, this documentary about groundbreaking postpunk band Joy Division is playing festivals alongside "Control," music-video master Anton Corbijn's well-received feature on the band. A solid, well-presented history of the English group's brief career, "Joy Division" has appeal for music buffs but could get mileage in theaters from a smart coordination with the feature film's release."

Robert Koehler at Variety:\

"After two features dramatizing the peripheral aspects of Manchester's greatest rock band, the stylish doc "Joy Division" gets to the heart of the matter. Pic takes full measure of the extraordinary unit's music and its unlikely rise to instant-legend status, and has an eye for detail many similar docs simply lack. Theatrical interest in the wake of Anton Corbijn's "Control" will pull in buyers after a strong fest run, and a double DVD of Corbijn's film and this one seems like a no-brainer."

Comments

[Kapshure]

I had the fortunate opportunity to see the US Premiere last night of Grant Gee's "Joy Division" here in SF. Only 2 showings, at a capacity of 92 seats in the screening room, at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts.

Truly amazing. Having been a Joy Division fan since I discovered them in 1990, this was definitely the best introspective that I have seen yet. I haven't seen Control yet, but I think this feature (from what I can tell) hits the nail on the head much better.

[mother]

I discovered Joy Division at age 15 in 1987 living in Calfornia.

I got all of the books that were out at the time, baught loads of botlegs (when that actually required some serious work, before the internet) and thought I knew everything about this band.

I didn't, not even close. This doc is so amazingly good - not only does it provide imformation you don't get anywhere else (for example, Curtis had tried suicide prior to being successful) but it is so well done....

The thing I disliked about Control is that it seemed to show Curtis as a one dimensional asshole. Here we see him as a complete and contradictory (and ultimately sympathetic and empathetic) character he appears to have been.

The music and visual aspects of this film are fantastic..The historical footage is unbelievable...See it.