Rent Control (2003)

Sticking my neck out... - Control review by Kurtz

I'm prepared to bet that this is the finest film about Hungarian ticket inspectors that you will ever see.

Mind the Moral, Not the Gap - Control review by griggs

For a film about ticket inspectors, Kontroll has remarkably little to do with fare dodging or enforcement. That might have made a decent documentary; this is something stranger — a battle between good and evil set in the bowels of the earth, the Budapest Metro standing in for it. The title itself comes from Hungarian slang for these inspectors — “kontrolls” — who roam the tunnels like fallen angels with clipboards. The whole thing plays out underground, where fluorescent lights flicker, tunnels echo, and reality feels one missed stop away from breaking down.

Nimród Antal keeps it moving at a steady pace, blending thriller, dark comedy, and myth without ever settling on one. Shot entirely after hours in the Budapest Metro, its greys and grime give everything a ghostly pallor, which only makes the terrible early-2000s fashion pop all the more — lending the film a weird, timeless edge.

Kontroll isn’t always coherent, but it’s moody, original, and oddly haunting — proof there’s more to the underground than just lost tickets and fluorescent strip lighting.