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- This article is about the 2003 Hungarian film entitled Kontroll ("Control," by the international title). For the upcoming film about Ian Curtis and the band Joy Division, directed by Anton Corbjin, see The Ian Curtis Film. For other meanings of the word - see Control (disambiguation).
Kontroll is a Hungarian film released to theatres in 2003. Shown internationally, mainly in art house theatres, the film is a mixture of genres, such as action, thriller, and comedy.
The primary backdrop of the film is the expansive Budapest Metro subway 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 directed by Nimród Antal and starred 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.
Antal used the same idea in his music video Szandál for the rock band Warpigs.
The main character of the story is Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi), who spends his life in the Metro, checking tickets. He eats and sleeps under the ground, and never sees the sunlight. He is a member of a ticket inspector team (the others are played by Zoltán Mucsi, Csaba Pindroch and Sándor Badár), who struggle a lot with checking riders' tickets. Bulcsú beats the leader of another inspector team in "rail running", and falls in love with the daughter of a metro driver (played by Eszter Balla), who always travels without a ticket and usually wears a "bear suit". Meanwhile, a mass murderer is on the loose who pushes people in front of metro trains.
When Bulcsú is chasing a trouble passenger, nicknamed "Road Runner" (after the cartoon character, for his speed), the murderer pushes Road Runner in front of a train. Bulcsú is suspected of the crime which leads to him quitting from his job. While brooding and in despair he is attacked by the murderer. He has to run for his life on the rails. In the end, the metro hits the murderer and Bulcsú leaves the underground hand in hand with his love, the bear-suit girl.
One interpretation of the final death race between Bulcsú and the murderer is that the murderer is in fact Bulcsú himself, and that the last "rail run" is a symbolic race where the evil Bulcsú perishes while the good Bulcsú survives. Although the director has denied this, he has stated Fight Club was one of his inspirations for the film.
- Tagline: There's no such thing as a free ride.
External links
- Official site
- Roger Ebert - Review of Kontroll.
- Kontroll at the Cannes Film Festival
- Kontroll at the Boston Film Festival
- Kontroll at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival
"Kontroll"