It would be so easy to paint a depressing picture of ian Curtis,the sadness of his last few hours is well documented.this film doesn't embellish the sensationalism of his downfall or of his death,which is handled with great subtley.
The acting is generally excellent,particularly Sam Riley(Ian Curtis) and Samantha Morton(Deborrah Curtis)
The Music is Of Course,Excellent., with most of their repetoire played throughout the film
Watch the extras Great performance of "Transmission".

This film is an absolute triumph. You naysayers who are in the frame of mind, oh not another bleeding biopic, will shut up long before the end credits roll. This paints a much darker picture than for example walk the line and unlike walk the line everyone knows there was no saving Ian Curtis. His decent into depression is not a result of drug addiction but rather the side effects of prescribed drugs he had to take to battle his epilepsy. It's not all flowers and rainbows and the harrowing darkness in the void Ian Curtis left on the world, not just musicians is inherent throughout being shot in bleak black and white. The happiness is never far from disaster, the joy only echoed by terror at losing control. This film chronicles the downfall of an influential hero many people have never heard of before.

The acting is excellent. Sam Riley could in fact be the reincarnation of Ian Curtis, the similarity in looks is startling as well as his singing and Curtis excentric dancing.

If you love joy division you will love this film. If you want the brutal truth with no rose tinted glasses in sight then this is it.

this is such a great film and its even better if your a fan of joy division.

highly recommended!

A truly fantastic film and comes highly recommended. You needn't be a Joy Division junkie to appreciate why this film is so good.

An absolutely amazing film from start to finish, great acting and oundtrack(of course)! dont think about it, just BUY this film.

Either you're a fan of the biopic or you're not, but this film is way more than a biopic.

You'd be a fool to miss this, cos the cinematography and acting are stunning by themselves, then the music and story just breaks your heart.

you dont have to be a joy division fan to enjoy this film.it is stunning with superb performances and of course a great soundtrack.best british film i've seen in ages.unmissable.

Absolutely amazing - the acting is brill, and the whole set up is great. If your a joy division/ian curtis fan, or a newbie to it all you are guaranteed to love this film - funny, and moving all at the same time - really is 5 *****

10 years ago I read the Deborah Curtis book, on which this movie is based, and was instantly hooked on Joy Division. You can imagine my excitement at the movie release. I saw it on the big screen first, was blown away, and made it a priority to buy the dvd as soon as it came out. It has all the ingredients of a classic. Stunning cinematography, true rock n' roll and a heart-breaking love story all thrown into one. A must see movie!

Disappointing after all the positive reviews, but still a keeper if only for the beautifully composed imagery by Anton Corbijn. A great performance by Sam Riley et al (although the Tony Wilson performance wasn't quite there imo), and entertaining enough in a by the numbers sort of way (imagery aside). But there are few insights into the motivations and personality of Ian Curtis, all we see is a fairly grim, distant and troubled characterisation, surely there was more to him than that. Very little is revealed about what he did whilst on tour or that side of his life generally. I can't help but feel that the script and the book it is based on is a somewhat sanitised and minimal interpretation of real events. I think Natalie Curtis observations are well made in a recent interview with the Guardian, (available online, dated 30th Sept, so search for it if interested as I can't link). The film also reveals little about Manchester, as someone that is from the area I was hoping for more depiction of the environment and atmosphere that was prevalent then. Black and white was used to apparently reflect the mood of the time - I'm pretty certain that using colour would have been more effective and less contrived. Black and white - looks stylish - but distances the viewer even further from reality.
The film is a nicely visualised interpretation of the book but the book only scratches the surface and mainly from one persons point of view, a person that apparently participated little in the side of Ian Curtis's life that was his creative outlet and so presumably of considerable importance and relevance. More depiction of Annik's experiences and rememberance of events would have made this a better balanced film, if she was willing to provide that information for 'entertainment' something she may understandably have been unwilling to do.