Kathy Fennessy Seattle Film Blog Dec 29, 2024 4/4

An impressive debut from a filmmaker who knew the band, the geographic and cultural milieu, and most of all: the man at the center of the maelstrom.

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David Fear Blender Sep 8, 2023

Control ends up being just another portrait of a self-destructive genius, albeit one as compelling and cryptic as Curtis himself.

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Wendy Ide The Times (UK) Mar 30, 2023

Expressively shot in black-and-white, the film lends an understated beauty to the Victorian backstreets of Macclesfield.

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Matt Cipolla The Spool May 18, 2022

If suicidality wavers through a spectrum of solipsism and obsequity, Control knows existence as performance.

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Tom Meek Cambridge Day Oct 22, 2020 3.5/4

Riley should have been nominated for an Oscar; his work here is on par with that year's er, Daniel Day Lewis...

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Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 5, 2020 3.0/4.0

On a certain level, Corbijn's approach to filmmaking reminds me of Gus Van Sant's loose take on Kurt Cobain.

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David Lamble Bay Area Reporter May 26, 2020

This film owes its power to a refusal to overplay its die-young, stay-pretty ending, and a scary good turn by Sam Reilly, channeling Ian Curtis.

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Kaleem Aftab The List Nov 3, 2018 4/5

Sam Riley is a revelation in the lead role in what is one of the outstanding British films of the year.

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Joshua Rothkopf Time Out Nov 18, 2011 3/5

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Bill Chambers Film Freak Central Oct 5, 2010 3/4

The film overcomes the central miscasting of Samantha Morton.

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Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Sep 25, 2010 4/4

The way Ian Curtis blocked his onstage movement mirrored isolationism in his home life. He clasped the microphone stand like a drowning man would a life preserver, but he couldn't stay afloat in dreary waters of his own creation. A seamless rock biopic.

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Dragan Antulov Index.hr Jul 15, 2009 4/10

Film %u0107e stoga biti shvatljiv samo onim gledateljima koji detalje povijesti "Joy Divisiona" i Curtisovog %u017Eivota imaju u malom prstu, a to su, dakako, najokorjeliji fanovi.

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Peter Keough Boston Phoenix Apr 23, 2009 2.5/4

Control never gets any closer to the mystery than when the music plays. Too bad it cuts the songs short, returning to the banalities they were meant to shatter.

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Bob Mondello NPR.org Oct 18, 2008

The film leaves you with the impression of an almost painfully innocent young singer, for whom alienation was, alas, far more than a pose.

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Jonathan Kiefer Sacramento News & Review Aug 7, 2008 4/5

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Sean Gandert Paste Magazine Jul 31, 2008

Control does justice to Curtis' legacy but fails to make any further grasps for significance.

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Pablo Villaça Cinema em Cena May 26, 2008 4/5

Um filme repleto de planos magnificamente compostos e que se tornam ainda mais impactantes graças à impecável fotografia em preto-e-branco de Martin Ruhe.

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Prairie Miller NewsBlaze Mar 30, 2008

Positioning art as a necessary surrender to a creative force which removes the self dangerously from existence and society, Control intimately connects in tragic yet euphoric ways to the mixed blessing of the radically unleashed musical imagination.

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Robert Roten Laramie Movie Scope Mar 6, 2008 C+

Some of Riley's musical performances are electrifying. This would not be a bad movie at all, except for the infuriatingly romantic portrayal of suicide.

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Amy Nicholson I.E. Weekly Feb 22, 2008 B-

Ian's trapped between insurrection and guilt, and so is Corbijn's film which mires itself in the artist's bourgeoisie dramas without figuring out how they influenced his music.

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