Joy Division

Because there is so little footage of Ian Curtis and Joy Division on record, the appearance of this DVD is mouth-wateringly exciting. But — and it’s a big one — like most of these "independent critical analysis” DVDs, all we get is a bunch of supposed "experts” telling us the story of the celebrated Manchester band to little satisfaction. Snippets of 24 Hour Party People are thrown in as filler, photographs are animated to present a live but cheesy feeling for the music and there are some clips of the band performing but both the video and sound quality is a problem. This isn’t a complete throwaway for schooled fans, however. There is a just barely audible sound recording of a 1979 interview with Curtis, which if you don’t mind fighting off the background noise of drunkards playing pool and reading the subtitles, you can sit back and enjoy.