Friday, March 23, 2007

Kontroll

A film recommended by both Walter Satterthwait and Vince Keenan's bound to be worth watching. Add the fact that Kontroll takes place entirely underground in the tunnels of the Hungarian metro system, and you've got me.

The film focuses on a team of ticket checkers. Their job automatically makes them outcasts, since everyone apparently hates them. They're not exactly lovable as they go about their work, either. And in fact most of them seem to be nuts. (There's a very funny scene where members of many different crews are interviewed by the company psychiatrist.) Bulcsu stands out in this crowd. It's clear that he's not like the others, but he certainly has some kind of problem. He even lives in the metro tunnels. We never do find out exactly why he's left the world Up There, but he's clearly had some kind of crisis in his life and found himself unable to handle it. To complicate things, a phantom killer's roaming the tunnels, pushing people under the trains. And there's a love interest, an attractive young woman who wears a teddy-bear suit. Really.

This is quite an entertaining movie. The subtitles aren't great (some of the spelling is pretty amusing), but they make things clear enough. It's the visuals that grab you, anyway. If you're looking for something different, put this one in the old Netflix queue.

2 comments:

Frank Denton said...

I watched this film quite a while ago and enjoyed it moderately. But it fits one of my favorite categories, stories below ground. Gritty Hungarian noir, of sorts. Try Neverwhere if you've never seen it.

Unknown said...

I need to put that one on the Netflix queue.