Joy Division in the UK.

"The deserved success of Anton Corbijn's inspired biopic of Ian Curtis, the troubled lead singer of Joy Division who committed suicide in 1980, has in effect enabled a release for this engaging if sometimes blandly celebratory documentary by Grant Gee," writes Peter Bradshaw, reviewing Joy Division for the Guardian.

"What with 24 Hour Party People, Control and Chris Rodley's BBC4 Factory Records survey, you might think the story of England’s most influential post-punk band was already covered," writes Trevor Johnston for Time Out. "But you’d be wrong. Although the three surviving members tell it their way, this is not your usual cut-and-paste rock-doc but a visionary piece of filmmaking in its own right, shaped around an insightful muso-socio-geography."

Updated through 5/4.

But for Robert Hanks, writing in the Independent), "Gee's treatment is more than a little pretentious - you're left with the impression that their echoey post-punk melancholia was the most important thing to happen to Manchester, and quite possibly Western civilisation, since the Industrial Revolution."

"The tale that unfolds is, we’re told, not just the story of a pop group but also the story of a city," writes Wendy Ide in the London Times.

The Evening Standard's Derek Malcolm finds it "both moving and enlightening, well illustrating that some of the best songs of the latter half of the 20th century were made by rock bands rather than classical composers."

Earlier: Reviews from Toronto.

Update, 5/4: "Someone," notes Philip French in the Observer, "[Tony] Wilson I think, says in the film that the revolutionary step they made was to progress from the usual punk groups' angry statement: 'Fuck you.' Joy Division were the first to say: 'We're fucked.'"

Posted by dwhudson at May 2, 2008 8:01 AM