Whereas Michael Winterbottom’s irreverent 2002 film, 24 Hour Party People, featured Joy Division as part of the larger story of their label, Factory Records, Control is a relatively conventional, narrowly focused film depicting the rise of the band and the fall of singer Ian Curtis, carefully laying out the reasons why (um, spoiler alert?) he committed suicide in 1980. Based on the biography by his widow, Deborah Curtis (played by Samantha Morton), with additional input from his former bandmates and girlfriend Annik Honoré (Alexandra Maria Lara), the story is brought to life by first-time film director Anton Corbijn, who reanimates the black and white textures of his own iconic Joy Division photography. And at centre stage is first-time lead actor Sam Riley, who masters the physically, emotionally and musically demanding role, delivering a striking, multiple-award-winning performance.

Grant Gee’s feature-length documentary, Joy Division, is available separately and in a gift set with Control, and it’s both a complement and counterpoint to the biopic. It’s loaded with context, prominently featuring the “psychogeography” of the city of Manchester, which Corbijn does not. And as successful as Control’s cast is, it pales next to the real thing (and that’s pretty damn pale), and includes never/rarely seen footage and photos, and a recording of Bernard Sumner’s hypnosis session with Curtis, as recreated in Control. New and insightful interviews with the band and figures from their inner circle (including the late Tony Wilson, and Honoré) are framed with vibrant urban imagery that’s as close in spirit to Joy Division’s music as the stark, bleak cover art and portraiture that informs Control.

June 24 sees the release of New Order Live in Glasgow, a two-DVD package featuring one of the band’s final shows, a greatest hits set from 2006 that includes several Joy Division songs. The other disc is a career-spanning collection of live footage from the vault, much of it from the early ’80s, during the band’s gradual transition from post-punk to synthpop.