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Kontroll
Dir: Nimród Antal Hungary 2003 106 mins CLUB
Cast: Sándor Badár, Eszter Balla, Sándor Csányi, György Cserhalmi, Eniko˝ Eszenyi, Lajos Kovács, János Kulka, Zsolt László, Bence Mátyássy, Zoltán Mucsi, Zsolt Nagy, Csaba Pindroch, Péter Scherer, Gyôzô Szabó
Get ready to go below the surface and ride the electric rails in Kontroll, a rough and rowdy look at a group of scrappy ticket inspectors working in the grimy Budapest subway system.
Who hasn’t felt at a given moment at some point during their shorter or longer life that they wanted to step out of their usual environment? To hide away from the world, to escape from the past, themselves and the present. To disappear from the face of the earth. Bulcsú aged twenty something has already made this step…This film is a special mixture of tale and reality, down below, under the ground. The story is about a strange young man, Bulcsú, his fellow inspectors, the management of the Underground company, a rival ticket inspection team, the Roadrunner, the Shadow, about racing along the tracks…and perhaps about love and starting anew.It is about the mostly comical relationships between passengers and ticket inspectors everybody is familiar with.
Shot entirely in the shadowy caverns of the Budapest underground, this surreal drama plays like an adrenalised Hungarian version of Subway, as a group of five ticket inspectors - misfits all - stumble through their daily rounds: apprehending fare-evaders, chatting up female passengers, chancing upon impromptu raves in the tunnels, and fighting the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the railway authorities. Meanwhile, a mysterious, possibly supernatural killer is stalking them – and hurling unwary commuters under oncoming trains ... Effortlessly creating its own, strange world, this is an auspicious debut from a considerable new talent.
Shot entirely at night in the tunnels and stations of the Budapest underground, Kontroll follows the sullen twentysomething Bulcsú (rising star Sándor Csányi) and his ragged team - the wise Professor, the novice Tibi, the scrappy Lecso and narcoleptic Muki - as they spar with wacky passengers and stern managers while pursuing a masked killer who is terrorising the tube.
The killer, who shoves unsuspecting waiting passengers in the path of oncoming trains, is just one menace among many. Populated by an array of night-crawling Eastern-European urbanites, including pimps, soccer hooligans, ravers and even a curious young woman in a bear suit, the dingy Budapest transit system is presented as a netherworld of shadowy and imposing architecture, potentially deadly metal boxes on wheels and surging electricity.
Fast-paced, upbeat and energetic, Kontroll is powered by the obvious enthusiasm and audacity of its cast and writer-director Nimród Antal, who is the driving force behind this rip-roaring thrill-ride that was Hungary's biggest box-office success of 2003.
With so many ragtag characters and plot lines influenced by the wisecracking American action genre, Kontroll provides a rich and complex social portrait of a rapidly changing Hungary from the perspective of its capital city's gutters. Built by the Soviets, the subway system's totalitarian geometric décor is lavished with affection by the spirited filmmakers. With dextrous vérité style cinematography and agile editing, this exploration of the dark and surreal side of public transit is a hyperactive crowd pleaser. - Colin Geddes, Toronto International Film Festival
Nimród Antal (born Los Angeles, 1973) studied at the Pasadena Art Center and the Hungarian Academy of Drama and Film. He has directed short films Shooting Clown (92) and Insurance (99). Kontroll (03), which was awarded the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Festival de Cannes in 2004, is his feature debut.
“Crowd-pleasing, darkly comic joyride -- top Magyar earner of 2003 -- is on track for a worldwide trip via well-timed stops at fests, art houses, and ancillary.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“Set entirely underground in the dark labyrinth of Budapest's subway system, the film is a tightly directed psychological thriller with enough twists and turns in the plot to keep audiences guessing up until the last scene. Made on a shoestring budget of about $800,000, the film was shot over several weeks, shooting just five hours a day and doing 20 to 25 takes a day because of budget constraints. Full of fast action, chase scenes, and humor the film is everything that Hungarian cinema usually is not.” - Anna Franklin www.indiewire.com
Winner - Prix de la Jeuness (Youth Prize) / Un Certain Regard Cannes 2004
Winner - Sándor Simó Prize for Best First Film, Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Critics / Budapest 35th Hungarian Film Week
Winner - Best Winner - Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor / Budapest Hungarian Filmcritics
Winner - Gold Hugo (Best Film) / Chicago Film Festival
Winner - FIPRESCI / Festival of Cottbus
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