An observant V spotted that the long-awaited Ian Curtis film Control was debuting in the Bay Area at the Mill Valley Film Festival last week, so she picked up tickets and we drove north on Friday evening to my dad's old stomping ground. We got there in time to grab a slice at a "solar powered pizzeria" before queueing up with the other hipsters in Marin for the showing. I loved the book on which the movie was based, the memoirs of Curtis's widow Deborah entitled Touching From a Distance, which depicted Ian as a bipolar figure who could mesmerize on stage but was alternately distant and dominating in his personal relationships. The film was directed by Anton Corbijn, the Dutch director famed for his music videos from Depeche Mode to R.E.M. making his first feature film. The movie, shot completely in beautifully framed black and white shots, only minorly deviated from my memory of the book. Where it excelled was linking Curtis's fiercely emotive lyrics to the personal experiences that spawned them ... "Love Will Tear Us Apart" played as Ian's marriage disintegrated, while we see Curtis penning the lyrics to "She's Lost Control" after dealing with his first grand mal epileptic seizure and the flood of medication he's given to deal with it. The opening lines to "Disorder", "I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand, could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?" are also seamlessly integrated with the drama. The soundtrack is flawless, both in its selection of JD classics and lesser known tracks ("Insight"!) as well as other music from the era including Bowie, the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, and Kraftwerk (all Curtis favorites). The music was so good that i'll partially forgive the filmmakers' decision to let the Killers cover "Shadowplay". Sam Riley and Samantha Morton give superb performances as Ian and Deborah Curtis, with the former representing the iconic frontman as a kind of man-boy who can't take responsibility for his marriage, child, mistress, or epilepsy, and as such is eventually consumed by thoughts of helplessness. Toby Kebbell provides the comic relief as the sharp-tongued manager Rob Gretton. But the glue that holds the work together is the amazing cinematography of Corbijn, which provides visuals to match Ian's response to his mistress Annik's request to tell her about Macclesfield, "Macclesfield is grey, and miserable". Despite a somewhat lackluster response from the other moviegoers, V and i loved it. I was tearing up when Deborah found Ian's body and the camera drifted to the sky, showing smoke wisping out of a chimney as "Atmosphere" slowly played.

The rest of our weekend was spent taking the dog for a long walk around Redwood Shores, scrubbing the bathroom until i got loopy from the bleach, having dinner and gelato on University Ave in Palo Alto while mourning Cal's missed chance to become the #1 team in the country, and going with friends Frank and Jennifer to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. The latter was a nice opportunity to spend a few hours with our Stanford chums, particularly while maneuvering through the stop-and-go traffic on the 92 and hoping that our gas supply would last until HMB. The Festival left a bit to be desired, consisting largely of craft booths and places selling assorted pumpkin foodstuffs. Apparently all the actual pumpkin patches were to be found on the 92 just before HMB.

I rewarded myself for a good year last week by upgrading my car stereo at Best Buy, switching to an Alpine IDA-x001. The latest Alpine single DIN, it forgoes a CD or tape player in favor of a greatly-expanded iPod interface. V bought me a new iPod classic to go with my new toy, allowing me to control it through the stereo's USB interface with nearly the same functionality as the iPod itself. And most importantly, it shows the album artwork on its 2.2" screen. Woohoo! Next up will be the Alpine Sirius adapter, allowing me to control all my auto audio units through the deck. It's not in stock yet so i have time to let my bank account recharge.

I hate Gwen Stefani. Not really news. But boy, do i ever.