Joy Division (2007)
Brown Owl Films, Hudson Productions

Description

Fans of the gloomy Manchester-based band from the late 1970s will have less to feel down about with the release of this rockumentary. Joy Division follows the unlikely rise of these working class lads up to Ian Curtis's suicide, which tore the band apart until it was reborn as New Order. Included here is rare footage of the group as well as their moody and starkly photographed videos, capturing the essence of what made Joy Division so special and so tragic.

Tags

1970s, England, Manchester

Collected reviews and ratings

10 The Guardian | Philip French

...an informative, enlightening study of the group. It's an imaginatively assembled compilation of TV clips, newsreel footage, pictures of Manchester now and then and new interviews.
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10 Cinematical | James Rocchi

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.
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10 Telegraph.co.uk | Jenny McCartney

Gee's superb film is not just for fans: in its performance footage and absorbing reminiscences, it will convince anyone who watches it of the fluttering presence in Manchester of something extraordinary.
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10 Variety | Robert Koehler

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.
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10 Reel | Pam Grady

This is no dry document, but a film that manages to freeze a moment in time. It has been 30 years since the band's first show, but the film makes it feel up to the minute.
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9.0 Amazon (UK) user reviews

Less is more. The genius of this documentary is Jon Savage's interview technique. The 3 surviving Joy Division members talk with the interviewer like they were talking to a mate in the pub, in a totally unaffected manner. The end result is the most insightful piece on Ian Curtis to date and - surprise, surprise - he was just an ordinary guy.
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9.0 Eye For Film | Daniel Hooper

Joy Division is a welcome addition to the legacy of material that surrounds the band, and may be the definitive history of Joy Division thanks to the quality of the speakers, the wonderful production work by Gee, and the co-ordination by writer and punk historian Jon Savage.
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9.0 Salon.com | Stephanie Zacharek

Gee's movie dovetails perfectly with Corbijn's [movie Control]. 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.
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9.0 DVD Talk | Jamie S. Rich

Joy Division is a fantastic documentary about one of our most important bands. The voice that emerged from Manchester, the sound that rumbled up from its concrete streets, can never be replicated. That's why a film like this is so great, because it reminds us why the music endures and why Joy Division lives on.
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8.0 View London | Matthew Turner

Impressively directed documentary that tells a compelling story and features candid contributions from an intriguing array of talking heads.
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8.0 Cinematical | Mariana McConnell

The greatest thing Joy Division achieves is making the audience want to go home and listen to their records, and there's really not much more you can ask from a rock documentary than that.
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8.0 PopMatters.com | Gill Gribon

Though it tends to wear it’s artiness on its work shirted sleeve, Joy Division is still a wonderful first person tell-all.
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8.0 DVD Outsider

It is the frankness and friendly Northern manner of many interviewees that make this a joy to watch and not just an interesting document – you feel as though these are real ordinary people you could share a table with in a pub.
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7.5 The Documentary Blog | Jay C

Layers upon layers of bleak city scapes, out of focus street lights, and of course, the image of Ian Curtis. Thankfully, [the director] is smart enough to let the performance footage speak for itself, un-manipulated.
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