''Kontroll'' is a 2003 Hungarian comedy–thriller film. Shown internationally, mainly in art house theatres, the film is set on a fictionalized version of the

Budapest Metro The Budapest Metro ( hu, Budapesti metró) is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the world's oldest electrified underground railway system, and the second oldest underground railway system with multiple stations, ...

system. "Kontroll" in Hungarian refers to the act of ticket inspectors checking to ensure a rider has paid their fare. The story revolves around the ticket inspectors, riders, and a possible killer. The film was written and directed by

Nimród Antal Nimród E. Antal (; born November 30, 1973) is a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Antal was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents of Hungarian people, Hungarian descent. In 199 ...

and stars Sándor Csányi,

Zoltán Mucsi Zoltán Mucsi (born 8 September 1957 in Abony) is a Hungarian actor. He has appeared in more than sixty films since his debut in 1983. Zoltán Mucsi was born in Abony, and in his childhood, he originally wanted to be a footballer. In 1979 he jo ...

, and Csaba Pindroch. The film was entered in a number of film festivals in Europe and North America. It won the Gold Hugo Award at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

and was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

2004 Cannes Film Festival The 57th Cannes Film Festival started on 12 and ran until 23 May 2004 in film, 2004. The Palme d'Or went to the United States, American film ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' by Michael Moore. The festival opened with ''Bad Education (2004 film), La mala educa ...

. It was also

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

's submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2004 Academy Awards.

Plot

Bulcsú ( Sándor Csányi) is a ticket inspector on the

; 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 (

), the disheveled Lecsó (Sándor Badár), neurotic

narcoleptic Narcolepsy is a long-term neurological disorder that involves a decreased ability to regulate sleep–wake cycles. Symptoms often include periods of excessive daytime sleepiness and brief involuntary sleep episodes. About 70% of those affec ...

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 who wets himself as a result of the run. 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. '' Road Runner'' 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 György Cserhalmi (born 17 February 1948, in Budapest) is a Hungarian actor. He graduated from the Actors Academy in 1971. He is also the founder of the Labdater Theatre in the Globe cultural centre. Employment *1971: Debrecen Csokonai Theat ...

) 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 A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock chara ...

, 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 manages to outrun the hooded figure and escape the train. The hooded figure never emerges from the tracks. Bulcsú then meets Zsófi, who is now dressed as a butterfly, and the two finally emerge back to the surface.

Cast

* Sándor Csányi as Bulcsú *

as Professor * Csaba Pindroch as Muki * Sándor Badár as Lecsó * as Tibi * Bence Mátyássy as Bootsie *

Győző Szabó Győző Szabó (born 7 July 1970) is a Hungarian actor. He appeared in more than sixty films since 1994. Selected filmography References External links * 1970 births Living people Hungarian male film actors {{Hungary-actor-s ...

as Shadow * Eszter Balla as Zsófi * Lajos Kovács as Béla

Production

Antal was influenced by

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

, and

Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, reports that 82% of 66 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7/10. The site's consensus reads: "''Kontroll'' is a smart thriller that's dark, gritty, and funny."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

rated it 72/100 based on 25 critics. American film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

rated it 3.5/4 stars and wrote, "Antal has a feeling for action, but what distinguishes ''Kontroll'' is his control of characters and mood." Ebert compared the film's setting and atmosphere to that of a post-apocalyptic science fiction film.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Kontroll
' at the

Boston Film Festival Boston Film Festival (BFF) is an annual film festival held in Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It has been held annually since 1984, usually in early September. The Boston Film Festival premiered such notable films as '' The Last Kiss'' ...

*
Kontroll
' at the

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival The Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival is a springtime film festival in the U.S. state of Minnesota that has been held since 1981. It began as the Rivertown Film Festival in Stillwater by Al Milgrom of Pine City and eventu ...