Gorgeous co-stars Sam Riley and Alexandra Maria Lara portray tormented lovers in Anton Corbijn's Control.
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It's an enormous challenge to reenact the life of a beloved cult star, but Sam Riley, in his first file role, does just that. In Anton Corbijn's black and white bio pic Control, he plays Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division who committed suicide at the age of 23. The young actor smolders with intensity - so much so that I rushed home to watch actual performances by Curtis. Riley doesn't so much resemble the tormented star as become him. His recreation of Curtis's unique dancing, especially, is incredible.
In a smaller, but pivotal role, Romanian actress Alexandra Maria Lara plays Annik Honoré, the long legged, dreamy journalist who engages Curtis in an adulterous affair - ruining his marriage and contributing to Curtis's state of constant torment. She proves to be a woman impossible to quit. Lara is equally alluring in another film this year: in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, she plays Veronica, a woman who speaks in ancient tongues.