24 Hour Party People (2002) or, Tony Wilson's Factory

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Steve Coogan's large head and the styles of the European dance set of the latter part of the 20th century make up this poster for Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People

Tony Wilson is a TV-host and a music pioneer in 1970s Manchester, and in the dozen or so years to come he helps punk and rave groups to emerge and break out on his Factory Records.

24 Hour Party People is written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions (2004)), based on the actual Wilson and his record company, and directed by Michael Winterbottom (Butterfly Kiss (1995)).
Steve Coogan (The Look of Love (2013)) is terrific as Wilson, and the film has an original concept, in which Wilson himself comments the story directly to us from time to time, breaking the fourth wall.
24 Hour Party People has some funny episodes, and the title sequence seems designed to induce epileptic seizures. The music, save for that by Joy Division, is unimpressive, and the majority of the musicians around Wilson appear to be faceless losers.

Related post:

Michael Winterbottom: The Killer Inside Me (2010) - Despite minor qualities, Winterbottom's adaptation is a nasty failure

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2.8 mil. $
= Uncertain 
[24 Hour Party People premiered 13 February (the UK) and runs 117 minutes. Shooting took place in England. The film opened #59 to a 34k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #32 and in 37 theaters (different weeks), grossing 1.1 mil. $ (39.3 % of the total gross). The rest of the film's gross sheet is incomplete; but it only grossed 379k $ (13.5 %) from its apparent 2nd biggest market, production home the UK. It won 1/2 British Independent Spirit award nominations and was shown in competition in Cannes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches higher than this review. Winterbottom returned with In This World (2002). Coogan returned in 6 TV and video projects before his theatrical return in Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). 24 Hour Party People is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.27/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 24 Hour Party People?

The Driller Killer (1979) - Ferrara's unsettling, original psycho-thriller debut

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Abel Ferrara depicted as his own titular maniac on this poster for his The Driller Killer

QUICK REVIEW:

A young artist in a shitty apartment in New York resides with his girlfriend and her girlfriend. He is tormented by unpaid bills and noise from the punk band downstairs, along with the bison he's depicting in his painting, which he doesn't feel quite done with yet.

Much psycho-babble could be read into the protagonist's ensuing murder method, but personally I think he is just tired of feeling part of a world in which everyone gets screwed. Bronxite master filmmaker Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant (1992)) makes his feature debut here, (not counting his 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976), a porno), and also gives a frightening performance as the lead 'driller killer', Reno. The film is written by Nicholas St. John (Ms. 45 (1981)).
Driller Killer is an ultra-low-budget punk pleasure, more a disturbing, urban psycho-thriller than an actual splatter, - for the few who can appreciate such a creation, - in which Ferrara also shows his knack for portraying his hometown of New York. The film is original on several fronts.

Related reviews:

Abel Ferrara: Body Snatcherrs (1993) - Third Snatchers adaptation is a piece of mediocre Ferrara
Bad Lieutenant (1992) or, World of Hurt 

Watch an original teaser trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 20k $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Driller Killer was filmed June 1977 - March 1978 on 16 mm film in Ferrara's own Union Square apartment and in adjacent streets. Its release was reportedly unproblematic in the US, whereas its video release stirred controversy in the UK, where it was instrumental for the creation of the Video Recordings Act 1984. Originally, its marketing through full page advertisement of its infamous drill-through-the-head poster in some movie magazines in the UK drew complaints, which gave rise to its inclusion as a 'video nasty', - a forbidden film, in essence, - in 1983. It was released as an 18+ uncut video in Australia in 1985, but remained illegal in the UK until 2002, in which it was finally released uncut. Ferrara continued after Driller Killer with an urban vigilante flick, the even better Ms. 45. The Driller Killer is fresh at 70 % with a 6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Driller Killer?
Other cool, seamy psychological thrillers that you want to recommend?

Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

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+ Best Music Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year: Anton Corbijn + Best B/W Movie of the Year

The stylish poster with Sam Riley cigarette-in-mouth for Anton Corbijn's Control

QUICK REVIEW:

Control is a music drama biopic based on Joy Division front singer Ian Curtis' life from 1973-'80, when he took his own life. 
The movie covers him from the assembly of his first band Warsaw, to his early marriage and child, the building of Joy Division, perhaps the most important post punk band of all, the music, the success, the mistress, his epilepsy and finally, his suicide. His struggles with love most of all, perhaps, is the center here.
I love the music of Joy Division, though being a fan is not a prerequisite for watching or enjoying Control, which is very well-produced; especially the cinematography (by Martin Ruhe (The American (2010)) is excellent and at its best moments poetic like Curtis' lyrics. 
The English reality portrayed in Control is incredibly crude and dreary, - similar to Hamburg in the film's Dutch director Anton Corbijn's (The American (2010)) newest film, A Most Wanted Man. (2014). The script is also rather stiff and hard, at times tragicomic. It deals with hard topics.
Control was Corbijn's debut feature. He comes from a background in photography and music videos and has had a long history with Joy Division in this role. He is now in post with his next movie, Life (2015), about a photo-shoot with James Dean for Life Magazine.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 4.5 mil. euros
Box office: 8.1 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Corbijn put up half of the budget himself and won considerable critical praise and prizes for Control, including a BAFTA for the film's writer. His next film was the low-budgeted George Clooney-starring The American, which had a better commercial result, making 67.8 mil. $ on a 20 mil. $ budget.]

What do you think of Control?
Other good movies about punk bands?