Review: Joy Division

Featuring an impressive array of previously unseen archive footage, this documentary charts the rise and fall of the influential band from Manchester (and Salford).

This new footage makes the film, as although the contributions are comprehensive and feature almost all the key players involved - its still a story that has been told many times before.

Indeed this documentary possibly works best alongside one of these examples - Anton Corbijn's Control. When viewed as a companion piece to the Ian Curtis biopic, the documentary comes into its own, going into further detail the key moments of the story as well as highlighting the impressive attention to detail shown in the fictionalised version released last year.

Also lacking is a greater analysis of the wider scale, as the late Tony Wilson says within 'its a story of city, not just a band' and this documentary to a certain extent ignores this aspect to focuses on events within the eye of the storm that was Joy Division. This will delight the hardcore, but focusing on how as opposed to why the songs were recorded diminishes the impact the importance of events, a point they try to get over at the end.

Director Grant Gee cuts archive footage and talking heads together in a stylish way, and a fitting one at that as nothing from factory was ever simply an aural experience. Minus points though for ending on Atmosphere though, as despite its power - it is becoming a little clichéd now.

BBC documentary Factory: From Joy Division to Happy Mondays does a better job of covering the band within the social context of their formation and showing the lasting effect on the music scene and the city itself that the band had.