Saturday, 9 March 2013

Joy Divison - Grant Gee documentary

In my opinion, this is how a music documentary should be done. Everything in this documentary just works. It's informative, containing interviews with all of the key players in the story. The only notable absentee is Debbie Curtis, although she has told her version of events in her book. She had been approached to take part in this documentary but declined. This documentary features Annik Honore as an interviewee (one of her only interviews as far as I know) which in itself makes this essential viewing no matter how big of a fan you are. It also features the late Tony Wilson not long before his death. I had read two books (Debbie Curtis' book and Torn Apart) before watching this but actually seeing those key figures recount the events in their own words was fascinating, and there was new information too. What also makes this documentary work so well is Grant Gee's brilliant directing. The visual aspect of the film is brilliant - it is a perfect compliment to the haunting music of Joy Division and it makes for a great visual representation of the band. So not only are the interviews very interesting, its visually exciting too. The bonus feature interviews also contain some very interesting stories or discuss interesting topics too. Honestly, I can't recommend this enough. It's really quite compelling viewing and I wish more documentaries were of this standard. I hope New Order get a documentary of this standard one day!

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