Kontroll
by Nimrod Antal
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Sandor Csanyi, Zoltan MucsiDirector: Nimrod Antal
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Gyula Pados
Editor: István Király
Producer: Tamás Hutlassa
Writer: Jim Adler
Writer: Nimród Antal
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Subtitled); Hungarian (Original Language)
Format: NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-07-27
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: IMAGE/THINKFILMS
Movie Reviews of Kontroll
Movie Review: A Darkly Brilliant Film from Nimród Antal
Summary: 5 Stars
Ingredients: a bizarre story by Jim Adler and Nimród Antal, a setting completely confined to the compression world of the Budapest subway system, a group of excellent actors, a cinematographer that knows how to take advantage of this amazing setting and push it to its limits, a musical score that knows exactly how to underline the dark comedy, terror, and degenerate feeling of the film. Results: one of the finest films to come out of Central Europe directed with complete 'control' by Nimród Antal!
KONTROLL is the name of those seedy men who patrol the metro guaranteeing that all passengers are ticketed. The dark order of these Kontrollers is headed by an even darker order of hierarchy whose problems are not limited to enforcement of the ticketing laws, but also preventing the ongoing problem of people jumping (or being pushed...) onto the tracks of the blindly deadly trains. The Kontrollers are divided into groups, each group covering a different sector of the metro. And as this metaphor for society plays out, each group is in competition with the other.
One man garners our interest - Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi) a man weary of his job and the degradation associated with being a Kontroller, so caught up in his life that he never leaves the underground, sleeping and existing in the subterranean world of darkness and artificial light. The film follows his camaraderie with his 'group', his moments of enlightenment as he meets a pretty woman in a bear suit who just happens to be the daughter of the conductor of his assigned train, and his dangerous encounters with the leader of his 'rival group' with whom he resorts to games of 'chicken' in running through the dangerous tunnels as trains approach. Ultimately he becomes involved in the chase of a hooded spirit who is thought to be pushing innocent people to their death in front of oncoming trains.
The story, while dark in every sense of the word, in Antal's facile hands mixes comedy with the drama in the way that Shakespeare provided comic relief for his most dramatic plays. While the real star of the film is clearly Sándor Csányi (he has earned awards for his multifaceted portrayal of a man near madness), special mention is extended to Lajos Kovács, Zoltán Mucsi, and the entire ensemble. The film may be difficult for some to follow or to stay with as it meanders around in the dark, but the rewards are plentiful. This is one of those films whose metaphors visualize post mortem. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, September 05
Summary of Kontroll
The budapest subway system the worlds second oldest is a dark labyrinthine netherworld as vast & various as the city above it. Of the hordes of people there most are going to better brighter places. But there are the controllers who ensure that no passengers ride without paying. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 10/23/2007 Run time: 106 minutes Rating: RThe setting of Kontroll is the Budapest subway system, one of the largest and oldest in the world, and a place that becomes an omniscient character in an ambitious film that jumbles dark comedy, slick action, and horror-movie conventions. The other main character is Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi), part of a team of disheveled ticket inspectors--controllers--who roam the grimy, fluorescent-lit city-under-the-city in a soul-destroying ritual. The job has become such a part of Bulcsú that he never leaves the underground. He has taken to sleeping on empty platforms and getting progressively more unkempt as he accumulates more bruises, bloody noses, and bitterness from his scraps with a variety of unseemly creatures of the night (and day). Among the post-punk, post-communist habitués of this subterranean metropolis are a cute girl in a teddy-bear suit, a rival gang of ticket inspectors who like to play a deadly game of chicken with express trains, and a hooded specter who may or may not be pushing people under subway wheels at crowded stops. First-time director Nimród Antal keenly juggles black comedy, character types, and genre styles, making the most of the weird angles and inherent dark creepiness of his chosen backdrop. Kontroll keeps pace as a hip, flashy, fast-moving set piece by any international measure. --Ted Fry
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