CONTROL
8.5/10
All day yesterday I had Joy Division's 'Transmission' in my head ('dance! dance! dance! dance! dance to the radio!'). So yeah, I'm a big fan of Joy Division (who aren't overrated) though admittedly I prefer New Order's stuff. Anyway I was very much looking forward this this 'biopic' about Ian Curtis of Joy Division showing his life from when he was in high school until the eve of Joy Division's first tour of the USA. And I wasn't disappointed - this was my fave film of the festival so far. It was filmed well in black and white by Anton Corbjin who has done lots of rock photography in his time. He did that cover of U2's the Joshua tree for example, though Bono wasn't in this film - it's a biopic, not a documentary, you see... That said, Bono was in New Order's doco 'NewOrderStory' where he sang the lyrics to Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' incorrectly. That crazy Bono and his documentary appearances! But I digress... Anton also did work for Depeche Mode, which is how I first heard of him. Anywy, the story itself is quite good and as accurate as a biopic can be apparently. It didn't paint Ian in a particularly sympathetic light to be honest, but it was an interesting watch. I didn't realise how young he was when he died - only 23! Not a bad effort for someone so young to do so much that remains in people's minds and hearts 30+ years later. I can't say everyone will like this, but if you like JD, it's a must see.

DAY WATCH
7/10
This is a Russian film, and is the sequel to 'Night Watch', a kinda halfway cross between supernatural action scifi type flick. I thought the first one was okay. And this was okay too. A little cheesy in parts and perhaps a degree of 'cool' is lost in the translation from Russian. The special effects were great though! Really impressive destruction of buildings, and a very original use of driving skills in one scene particularly. Of particular note were the use of subtitles, which, instead of the usual boring text at bottom had a tendency to animate and change colour to approprtiately describe feelings. I wouldn't rank it particularly highly on the must see list, but if you're into stuff like Underworld, and don't mind a plot that's a little hard to follow at points, then check it out.