Kontroll

Plot synopsis:
Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi) is a ticket inspector on the Budapest Metro; he spends his nights sleeping on the train platforms, and hasn't left the underground ever since he started working there. His ragtag team of inspectors - consisting of the veteran Professzor (Zoltán Mucsi), the disheveled Lecsó (Sándor Badár), neurotic narcoleptic Muki (Csaba Pindroch) and dimwitted greenhorn Tibi (Zsolt Nagy) - is routinely disrespected and assaulted by the commuters, who continue to evade paying fines in a variety of ways.
One of Bulcsú's company rivals, model employee Gonzó (Balázs Mihályfi) challenges him to a "rail run": after the last metro leaves a station, the two get on the tracks and try to make it to the next station on foot before the midnight maintenance carriage runs them over. Bulcsú wins the contest, barely saving Gonzó in the last second. During a routine inspection, he is enamored by a girl dressed in a bear suit called Zsófi (Eszter Balla), the daughter of one of the veteran metro drivers, Béla (Lajos Kovács). In another occasion, Bulcsú unsuccessfully attempts to talk to his colleague Laci (László Nádasi) after Laci gets into an altercation with a passenger and takes him hostage; Laci exclaims he can't take it anymore and slits the passenger's throat.
After chasing a repeat offending prankster called Bootsie (Gyalogkakukk, lit roadrunner in the Hungarian original; Bence Mátyássy), Bulcsú witnesses him being pushed on the tracks by a hooded figure, dressed in exactly the same attire as him; another incident in a long line of what people thought were apparent suicides. Because of his recurring nightmare of this figure, Bulcsú fails to apprehend the murderer, and when he's brought to questioning, he refuses to disclose details of the incident to the lead executive (György Cserhalmi) of the company. When the executive threatens to disclose the video footage of the incident, which only shows Bulcsú, he resigns his job. Muki later insinuates him being the murderer, citing his continual nightly absence and accusing him of having the same mental issues as Laci did; an infuriated Bulcsú almost pushes him on the tracks as well.
During an underground costume party, Bulcsú spots and follows the hooded figure and they get into an altercation, after which they start rail running similarly to the contest with Gonzó earlier. Bulcsú wins again; the hooded figure never emerges from the tracks. Bulcsú meets Zsófi, who is now dressed as a butterfly, and the two finally emerge back to the surface.

Tags: dark, comedy, mystery, murder, paranormal, allegory, cult, violence, good versus evil, psychedelic, humor, satire, romantic, revenge

Review:
This movie has simply everything: great characters, superb cinematography, a kick-ass soundtrack; it's a comedy, a mystery thriller, a drama and a romance - and the performances and the direction are flawless.
I will not spoil anything here, but what makes me call this film great instead of just very good, is that there is a wide range of different interpretations possible for this marvelous movie, from the mainstream one to the dark and disturbing or even the religious - and they all work beautifully.
The first thing he did when he introduced the film was make fun of the fact that he was called Nimrod, which is great.The film is about a group of ticket inspectors in the Hungarian subway system, with the focus on at least one in particular (Bulcsú).
The metro stations become a world of their own, the neon lights create a new reality.While in the beginning the film focuses on a whole group of ticket controllers and we expect a satirical comedy about their lives, in the second half the storyline concentrates on the terrifying experiences of Bulcsú, a man with a mysterious past.
Everything about this story is deeply irrational (except for the satirical elements that are in some ways very close to reality :-)), this is just a terrible world, where love means the only hope (I was a bit reminded of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil").An excellent movie that I would also strongly recommend to foreign viewers.
I was astonished what a great success "Kontroll" has become in Hungary, because I think that most people in the audience there have probably never seen anything that could only remotely be called arthouse - and "Kontroll" wasn't exactly an easy popcorn movie.....
Hope you get a chance to see this, you won't regret it.The movie is a very strange and quirky dark tale of a bunch of outcasts that spend their time working as ticket inspectors in the subway, but their leader is a haunting and charming guy that is obviously dealing with his demons and has exiled himself to the subway.
Bulcsú's character is very good, and Kovács Lajos (the drunken metro driver) is a great actor, the story is exciting, and the pictures have very dark feelings, so it's a perfect film from a genius director, Antal Nimród.
He told me that they got the high contrast look with a 'bleach-bypass' developing of the film, and it amplified the beautiful camera work.First review says it all, gorgeous cinematography, great directing, great acting, great story.
Weird, whacky, amusing, unsettling with a thumpingly good soundtrack, Kontroll is a funky cult-style adventure in the Budapest subway system, the scarily unbalanced but mostly good-hearted (and fictitious) ticket inspectors, their adversaries, games of dare, the weirdos that play games of evasion, a gorgeous woman dressed in a teddy bear suit and so many other out-there and unpredictable aspects that you never know whether a seen will make you laugh or jump.
At long last there is an excellent, competitive Hungarian movie about different ways of the ego and soul, about love and crime and the background there is symbolic world of subway.
Maybe they wanted to have a funny flick about controllers at the Budapest subway, and then randomly threw plot ideas around the jokes to make a 90+minutes movie?I don't know.
The early scenes of control suggest that this film is going to be a grimly realistic accounts of the tough job done by the largely working class ticket collectors of the Budapest metro.
But a preface, in which a pompous cod-official of the transport authority explains the decision to allow filming in his system, hints at something more adventurous to come, and indeed, we soon have improbable levels of violence coupled with a cast of characters who seem to live underground, including a woman who travels everywhere dressed as a bear, and a literal personification of the grim reaper.
Kontroll is one of those films you want to like because of the work put forth by the people involved, but ultimately cannot because it simply fails in the end.There are many great elements about this film.
Unfortunately, the choice is never made, and thus a series of convoluted threads never assembles into a good film.Like Napolean Dynamite, Kontroll has a great assembly of wonderfully original characters but there is no story (or at least no story interesting enough to pay attention to).
It ranges from comedy to thriller, involves some chases, fights and a bit of vomiting.Filmed entirely at night on the Metro, it uses its locations well and is cleverly lit to make the setting look bluer, colder and less neon-filled than the real thing.
Apparently the Budapest subway system makes sure that people pay their fares by employing groups of young men who roam the trains, checking to see if riders have bought tickets (which, evidently, many do not).At the beginning of the film, we meet a group of these "controllers" who go about doing just that, in a rather abrasive and vulgar fashion.
Its a surprising film, its an adventure, the narrative of the film is not its strong point,The story which takes place underground in the metro is in fact vague, its a film which is held up from one dramatic moment to another by what happens in that particular moment.The film is definitely about each character,in a short time frame we are introduced to the characters in such a way that we feel we know them , we identify with them, they are believable they exist!
The setting of the movie a weird underground world ,unfurls in a surprising manner, with all its darkness,drama, grit and mystery.Its somewhere along you realize the movie is so fluid that you don't even wait or want a tangible or explainable story, instead one wants to stay forever suspended in a dream like surreal world it has created.I thought the film was brilliant and funny a rare combination.Movies like Kontrol with all its characters and illogical yet believable settings don't come along easily.
I knew exactly three things: The film was in Hungarian, it was about subway ticket inspectors and it looked fairly intriguing, at least visually.
This was the first film I've personally seen surrounding the underground world of subway inspectors, and the story, though at face value may carry an immediate "who cares" stigma BECAUSE of its subject matter, is really quite good and is further bettered by the performance of Csanyi.
Looking like a Chris Noth clone on the tail end of a two-week bender, Csanyi is able to give his character sufficient appeal and depth despite the fact that we never really know who he is and what his deal really is.As I've stated, "Kontroll" leaves a lot to the imagination, and there are several elements of the film that could point in the direction of the theory of purgatory and the duality of man's psyche.
Possessing a story as much about its characters as the dark netherworld they inhabit, Kontroll isn't a horror film, although it does begin much like one.
Central to the story is a group of ticket inspectors, or "controllers," led by the eccentric Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi), a beleaguered man in his late twenties who constantly looks like he has two black eyes even when he hasn't been in a fight.
They are shown dealing with everyone from unruly passengers who refuse to show a ticket, to rival groups of ticket inspectors, to "Bootsie" (Bence Mátyási), a young troublemaker whose sole joy in life seems to be jumping turnstiles just so Bulcsú and his cohorts will engage him in a Tom and Jerry-esquire footrace.Having not so much a plot as a collection of sub-plots, Kontroll doesn't stick with the sort of whimsical tone set by the foibles of the main characters for long.
Even while not exactly understanding all of the cultural references you could only know about from having lived a long time in Hungary, there are enough themes here that are universal, so that anyone watching this movie will be engaged and enraptured from the first frame to the last.The movie's title is definitely ironic, because it's about a man who only thinks he's got "control" of both his life and his livelihood.
A great electronica soundtrack is provided by the now-defunct group NEO (and more's the pity, because this is one of the best scores of its kind.) For a movie in which the story and the subjects never rise to the city surface, KONTROLL is a movie that stands head and shoulders over most of its peers, which usually just pose as 'art films'.
I will be watching for more work from director Antal in the future, and looking forward to it.And the charismatic Czanyi had best prepare himself...when the camera loves someone this much, it's only a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling!And here's hoping that no one tries to make an ill-advised "American version.".
On the surface, Kontroll is a film about a mysterious hooded murderer haunting the Budapest subway and pushing passengers in front of tube trains.
The soundtrack by the band NEO provides a grimy synthetic backdrop to this man-made world.I am visiting Budapest next week for a long-overdue holiday, so this is perhaps not the best film to have watched in advance (hooded murderers on the subway will be something to look out for).
All the elements are there  mystery, suspense, and humor, it's just a pity that first time director Nimrod Antal's first film, which has fantasy, thriller, and dark-comic elements, couldn't have been a bit better paced.Some of the scenes are excessively long, and the movie sort of sinks in the middle, as though Antal just can't sustain the tension that he so marvelously creates throughout the first half.
Partly because he seems so detached, partly because he's a former intellectual and professional who abandoned a promising future aboveground for unknown reasons, and also because he's a surly outsider who, sleeps during breaks on abandoned benches and in the far tunnels.Completely set in the bowls of the underground transport system, Kontroll is an absurdly and totally maddeningly existential film, It's where a woman inconspicuously rides the train in a bear suit, after-hour raves parties materialize to pulsating dance beats, and men discuss a cooking recipe while cleaning body parts off the track.
What's even a greater joy for me, is that most people liked it (judging from votes and comments).I think, Kontroll features brilliant aspiring actors (instead of the more well known ones, who are good actors, but it is a bit boring, that real young talents are rarely discovered), nice cinematography, a very unified depicting of the dark subterranean world (by the way, the movie does not take place in the Budapest subway - although it was shot there, the plot is set in a fully fictional environment!), astonishing direction and camera-work and a great soundtrack.
Nimród Antal's "Kontroll" looks at "controllers", people tasked with making sure that passengers on the Budapest subway have paid for their tickets.
I must say that I really like this movie, it was so entertaining, weird, dark, in some moments funny, in some moments scary with beautiful shots, great soundtrack, amazing acting and with ending that leaves you thinking about it.It was such a pleasant surprise and I'm so happy that I found it!
Good thing is that I watched this movie after I came back from Budapest.Very good job Mr Nimród Antal, this was a real treat coming from Hungary.
Shooting took place in the subway system of Budapest (capital of Hungary), but draw your attention to the story, not the actual location, as it cannot be compared to the real world, especially because every single person appearing in the movie has their own characteristics, and they become utterly likable.The separation of a kind of underworld (as in the underground) from the places above determines the story.
The movie focuses on ticket inspectors, especially one of them, namely Bulcsú, whose life above the underground is an issue of debate, one thing for sure, completely different.
I will say that Kontroll offers us excellent cinematography, generally great camera work, superb acting across-the-board bringing the large cast to life, clever dialogue and plenty of memorable individual moments especially of pathos & surreal comedy.The ending's impressionistic ambiguity (which some of you might really like, but I either wanted to be shocked by a twist or satisfied with a denouement), plus one unnecessary scene which felt tacked on, missing a further opportunity for pathos (our hero's final meeting with Gonzo in the train carriage near the end), are perhaps minor subjective criticisms, bordering on nitpicking.
But I mention this because it is the customers that use the Hungarian metro that get the short end of the stick; indeed this film may even inspire people to work on the underground.Like Kevin Smith's 1994 effort Clerks.; Kontroll gets the balance right between glamorising the life and job at hand these people lead.
The surface may be purgatory with another further unseen space above that acting as heaven  maybe if you work for a Hungarian airline, you are in the promised lands where every customer is a good one  we shall never know.Kontroll is a film that has its religious themes and ideas abound but the director can do the basics; he can make good use of a location, he can utilise light to a good degree and knows how to shoot action  the scene in which we only find out the rules to the 'chicken' game seconds before it begins is particularly memorable as is the final chase where Bulcsú must shake off his inner demons.
You are left thinking to yourself, "Wow." Do yourself a favor and watch the movie without subtitles, that way you can imagine that there is an actual story with characters that have depth.
Instead it is a fantastic symbolic story with great characters and solid story.The story follows Bulcsú, a young ticket inspector, working in the Hungarian metro.
We follow Bulcsú and his colourful team of inspectors giving us a glimpse into his day to day adventures and the search for the killer and eventually meeting a girl - in a bear suit.It is a great piece of symbolic film making, concentrating on building the characters and their interactions with each other.
You really never understand the the main player,and come away with allot of unanswered questions,but I think thats what makes the movie.The whole movie is done in dark tones to make you fully realize the subterranean world of the subway.In this film you notice a hierarchy of characters that all seem to to be condemned in the their dead end jobs.
Set in Budapest's underground train station, Nimrod Antal's Kontroll gives new meaning to the term "low life." The movie delivers plenty of Eastern European griminess and paranoia, along with one of the most exciting soundtracks I've heard in a long time.
Ingredients: a bizarre story by Jim Adler and Nimród Antal, a setting completely confined to the compression world of the Budapest subway system, a group of excellent actors, a cinematographer that knows how to take advantage of this amazing setting and push it to its limits, a musical score that knows exactly how to underline the dark comedy, terror, and degenerate feeling of the film.
"Kontroll" is not without its flaws by any means -- the lack of a truly strong storyline or concern with engendering anything more than superficial empathy for the protagonist(s) on the part of the audience being chief among them -- yet this is without a doubt a fine film, characterized by excellent casting, performances, interesting and original situations and flair in direction.The music (by NEO) and cinematography are genuinely outstanding.If a bit more work had been done on the script (never one of Nimrod Antal's strengths) beforehand, "Kontroll" might have had a very real chance of becoming an international cult film on the scale of something like "Lola rennt"/"Run Lola Run."As it is, the film is the best feature to come out of Hungary in several years, rivaled only by György Pálffy's debut, "Hukkle."Interesting to note that "Kontroll" was shot almost entirely in the Budapest metro (subway) system, to which cast and crew only had access for a maximum of four hours per day.
(You'll certainly not want to fare dodge, or stand too close to the platform edge.) "Everyone hates ticket controllers," says Antel, "and I thought it would be interesting to find out what these people were really like." If he has, it's no wonder a lengthy disclaimer at the start of the film assures us that the characters portrayed herein bear no relation to the genuine Budapest Metro staff.A funny-sad, visually arresting depiction of lives on the edge, enhanced no end by Gyula Pados' ingenious cinematography and a pounding electronic score from the one who calls himself 'Neo'..
Despite this great limitation and lack of varying landscape this is a very engaging film.The story follows a subway ticket inspector and his group of co-workers.
Anyway I think the Control is fantastic and i loved the the way the characters were dressed.If you have ever been in eastern Europe you know what I'm talking about...and who have never been --> yes a lot of people wear clothes like you've seen in the movie:) i also liked the story and the characters especially who played in supporting roles.My favorite part is when one of the ticket inspectors was attacked by a boy with a heroin shot and then he whipped out a saw under his jacket!:) First and last i recommend to watch this movie because that's a good chance to know whole different worlds..
By seeing this film every people living in and out Hungary can get know more about our country, and Kontroll shows us in a very good way as well.