A well-done Hungarian black comedy set in Budapest's underground subway system.
Kontroll (2005)
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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:52
Rotten:12
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Kontroll is a smart thriller that's dark, gritty, and funny.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language, some violence and brief sexuality
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:17-09-2004
Synopsis: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Academy Awards, writer-director Nimrod Antal's debut is a thrilling, claustrophobic, wild ride through the subway system in the Hungarian... Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Academy Awards, writer-director Nimrod Antal's debut is a thrilling, claustrophobic, wild ride through the subway system in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Sandor Csanyi stars as Bulcsu, the leader of a small crew that patrols the underground making sure that passengers have purchased a ticket. However, the men actually have little power themselves, so many people that they stop humiliate them, physically and verbally abuse them, and easily run away. Within this small world, Bulcsu and his gang, which includes the older Professor (Zoltan Mucsi), the narcoleptic Muki (Csaba Pindroch), the diminutive Lecso (Sandor Badar), and the young and innocent Tibi (Zsolt Nagy), battle Gonzo (Balazs Lazar) and his far more successful group of ticket checkers. In one of the film's most exciting scenes, Bulcsu and Gonzo go railing--racing down the tracks in between two moving trains. Meanwhile, a mysterious hooded person in black is pushing people in front of trains, a man named Bootsie (Bence Matyassy) continually escapes from the ticket checkers' clutches, a train conductor (Lajos Kovacs) indulges himself in food, drink, and smoke, and an odd woman (Eszter Balla) roams around the subway wearing a cute bear costume. But the more the story focuses on Bulcsu, who lives in the subway and always seems to be bleeding, the more powerful the film becomes, propelled by NEO's thumping techo soundtrack. [More]
Starring: Sandor Csanyi, Zoltan Mucsi, Csaba Pindroch, Sandor Badar
Starring: Sandor Csanyi, Zoltan Mucsi, Csaba Pindroch, Sandor Badar, Zsolt Nagy, Bence Matyassy, Gyozo Szabo, Eszter Balla, Laszlo Nadasi, Peter Scherer, Lajos Kovacs
Director: Nimrod Antal
Director: Nimrod Antal
Screenwriter: Nimrod Antal
Producer: Tamas Hutlassa, Nimrod Antal
Composer: NEO
Studio: ThinkFilm
Reviews for Kontroll
So unique and memorable that it sits alongside classic first features like Sexy Beast, Reservoir Dogs and Shallow Grave
It moves fast, pukes up its guts, then starts sprinting again. Those with a taste for such endurance tests can indulge all they want. I'll get off at the next stop.
In this mature and delicate debut, Antal leaves eough of his film open-ended to give room for thinking.
Nimród Antal’s stunning feature directorial debut Kontroll is a high style, high-speed thriller that vividly captures the ambience and mores of Hungarian subways.
Making gorgeous use of grimy tunnels, writer-director Nimrod Antal frustrates expectations in the best possible sense.
Antal's sense of humor is of the terminally unfunny sort. He trades on tired caricatures, cutesy conceits and infantile gross-outs, and the reasons for Bulcsu's paralyzing angst are left so vague and elliptical, it's difficult to care about him.
first-timer Antal manages to shoehorn a surprisingly affecting layer of metaphysical unease into the tale.
Director/writer Nimrod Antal has made an extremely accomplished feature debut. With production designer Balazs Hujber, he has created a bizarrely original underground world of shadows and garish light.
Like Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Last Life in the Universe, Kontroll is another “chill out” production that’s alternately lovely and sinister.
It's a great science-fiction piece, a razor-sharp satire, and an impressive calling card for an emerging Hungarian cinema.
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