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''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 system. "Kontroll" in Hungarian refers to the 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 and stars Sándor Csányi, Zoltán Mucsi, 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 and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It was also
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...
's submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2004 Academy Awards.


Plot

Bulcsú ( Sándor Csányi) is a ticket inspector on the underground; he spends his nights sleeping on the train platforms, and never leaves the underground. 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 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). On another occasion, Bulcsú unsuccessfully attempts to calm his colleague Laci (László Nádasi) after Laci gets into an altercation with a passenger and takes him hostage; Laci says he cannot 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 suicides. Because of his recurring nightmare of this figure, Bulcsú fails to apprehend the murderer, and when he is questioned, 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 that Bulcsú is 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 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 an angel, and the two finally emerge back to the surface.


Cast

* Sándor Csányi as Bulcsú * Zoltán Mucsi as Professor * Csaba Pindroch as Muki * Sándor Badár as Lecsó * as Tibi * Bence Mátyássy as Bootsie * Győző Szabó as Shadow * Eszter Balla as Zsófi * Lajos Kovács as Béla * Enikő Eszenyi as drunk woman on the escalator Film director Gábor Herendi has a cameo as the paramedic who shares a cooking recipe while collecting the remains of an accident victim.


Production

Antal was influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam,
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
, and Takeshi Kitano.


Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
, a review aggregator, 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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
rated it 72/100 based on 25 critics. American film critic Roger Ebert 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.


Legacy

On December 29, 2023 - the film's 20th anniversary - Bence Mátyássy, who played Bootsie in the original, released a fictional trailer for a sequel for "Kontroll 2", with Balla, Pindroch, Badár, Mucsi and Nagy reprising their roles, and Neo once again contributing the trailer score.


See also

* List of Hungarian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film


References


External links

* * * * *
Kontroll
' at the Boston Film Festival *
Kontroll
' at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival {{Warsaw Film Festival Audience Award 2003 films 2000s comedy thriller films 2003 psychological thriller films 2000s Hungarian-language films Hungarian comedy thriller films Hungarian satirical films Budapest Metro Films set in Budapest Films shot in Budapest Rail transport films Films directed by Nimród Antal Films with screenplays by Nimród Antal 2003 directorial debut films 2003 comedy films