On the surface, Kontroll is a film about a mysterious hooded murderer haunting the Budapest subway and pushing passengers in front of tube trains. But rather than developing into a horror film along the lines of Creep, a contemporaneous film set in an underground railway network, Kontroll turns out to be something radically different and much more compelling; the film is a winning combination of comedy, murder mystery and psychological drama.
There is no daylight in Kontroll: director Nimrod Antal concentrates on creating a distinct subterranean world below the city streets. This is a world filled with strange sights and fascinating characters. The focus for the film is a team of five ticket collectors who work on the subway trains; the head of the team, Bulcsu, emerges as the central character.
Every day Bulcsu and his team face the ordeal of collecting tickets from passengers who are often contemptuous, aloof, or openly hostile towards them. The montage sequences where the team go about their daily work are fast-paced, frenetic and very funny. A rival team of ticket collectors is a further menace; the rivalry between the two leaders comes to a head in a 'railing' contest, an exhilarating race down a subway tunnel before an oncoming train.
Alongside such bravado are signs of wear and tear. Another hilarious montage sequence throws together a hapless psychiatrist with the bundle of anxieties carried by the subway staff. A member of Bulcsu's team is prone to narcoleptic fits when raging about his working life; another colleague goes further by taking a knife to a disdainful passenger. There are also dark intimations about Bulcsu himself. From a chance encounter we learn that he abandoned another life above ground, and there are indications that he is linked to the murders on the subway.
Nimrod Antal mines some remarkable imagery from the underground setting. The back-alleys of the subway and the ventilation vents are like the side streets of some deserted underground city, whilst the use of lighting effects and camera angles cast the subway platforms in bizarre and alien shapes. It is moving to see some of the main characters bedding down in the perpetual twilight of the subway and it is fascinating to see the diversity of characters passing through its tunnels, including the beautiful girl in the bear suit whom Bulcsu is drawn towards. 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). Nevertheless, I still strongly recommend Kontroll: it's one of the most entertaining foreign-language films that I've seen.
There is no daylight in Kontroll: director Nimrod Antal concentrates on creating a distinct subterranean world below the city streets. This is a world filled with strange sights and fascinating characters. The focus for the film is a team of five ticket collectors who work on the subway trains; the head of the team, Bulcsu, emerges as the central character.
Every day Bulcsu and his team face the ordeal of collecting tickets from passengers who are often contemptuous, aloof, or openly hostile towards them. The montage sequences where the team go about their daily work are fast-paced, frenetic and very funny. A rival team of ticket collectors is a further menace; the rivalry between the two leaders comes to a head in a 'railing' contest, an exhilarating race down a subway tunnel before an oncoming train.
Alongside such bravado are signs of wear and tear. Another hilarious montage sequence throws together a hapless psychiatrist with the bundle of anxieties carried by the subway staff. A member of Bulcsu's team is prone to narcoleptic fits when raging about his working life; another colleague goes further by taking a knife to a disdainful passenger. There are also dark intimations about Bulcsu himself. From a chance encounter we learn that he abandoned another life above ground, and there are indications that he is linked to the murders on the subway.
Nimrod Antal mines some remarkable imagery from the underground setting. The back-alleys of the subway and the ventilation vents are like the side streets of some deserted underground city, whilst the use of lighting effects and camera angles cast the subway platforms in bizarre and alien shapes. It is moving to see some of the main characters bedding down in the perpetual twilight of the subway and it is fascinating to see the diversity of characters passing through its tunnels, including the beautiful girl in the bear suit whom Bulcsu is drawn towards. 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). Nevertheless, I still strongly recommend Kontroll: it's one of the most entertaining foreign-language films that I've seen.