a gleeful demonstration of Antal's flair for the medium
Kontroll (2005)
Tomatometer
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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: R [See Full Rating] for language, some violence and brief sexuality
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Apr 1, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $116,783
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
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Reviews for Kontroll
There must be a lot of smart people out there in America ready for a youthful explosion of talent and temperament. This is their picture.
Kontroll can't seem to decide whether it's an oppressive Kafkaesque satire, a dystopian love story, or a hyperkinetic action movie.
One part comedy, one part thriller, Kontroll is a film that’s tough to pin down but easy to like.
Antal's debut is a sharp, blackly comic hugely entertaining thriller that manages not to get entangled in half-baked symbolism until its very last shot.
Kontroll calls itself a thriller, and you will agree if you are excited by scenes of bored inspectors arguing with sullen straphangers.
Nimrod Antal's defiantly mordant comedy is smart, imaginative -- and nearly impossible to watch.
At 106 minutes, this episodic and claustrophobic world, laden with meaning, feels too drawn out.
One of those hip, self-consciously trippy existential thrillers that blow in from Europe every now and then to rock the world of East Village university students looking for a superficially meaningful event to legitimize their Friday night bar crawl.
Watch how inventively Mr. Antal keeps the action moving and you'll see why his picture has won a passel of prizes, bestowed by everyone from the Cannes Film Festival to the Budapest Hungarian Film Critics organization.
Like many modern allegories, Nimrod Antal's tour de force of grime, fluorescence and destinationless velocity is more concerned with atmosphere than meaning.
Bulcsú never surfaces from the underworld. Neither does the movie -- literally or figuratively.
The hooded phantom who keeps popping up to shove passengers onto the tracks is the only figure in Kontroll with even a semblance of purpose.
A well-done Hungarian black comedy set in Budapest's underground subway system.
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.
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