I was mentally exhuasted last night, and as I was getting under the covers, I realized that I had borrowed a DVD from the public library that I had to return today. So I pop it in, and descend into a visual underworld, as captured by Nimrod Antal in the excellent Hungarian allegorical thriller, "Kontroll", set entirely in the flickering flouresence of Budapest's subway system.

"Kontroll", on the surface, is a narrative about the ticket checkers exerting kontrol down in the belly of a modern city, in and out of which people (nearly all of whom seem to be carrying the weight of the city above them) flow along with the ticketless undesirables - prostitutes, pimps, thrill seekers, gang members, gypsy fortune tellers etc. The action in the movie revolves around a bunch of ticket checkers, out of favor with thier bosses and filled with dysfunctional characters, with the main focus being on Bulcsu, the leading man with a hang dog face.

Bulcsu for some unnamed reason (only vaugely hinted at as the fear of being not as sucessful as others think he should be in whatever he was doing previously via a cryptic conversation) never goes up, and out of the subway system. He sleeps on the subway platform floors, and is a haunted and hunted presence. He is also found walking during the nights along the tracks searching for clues of a shadowy presence (dressed in a grim reaper like costume), given to murdering people by pushing them in front of incoming trains.

The denounement of the movie is a thrilling "railing" - a run from one station to the next as a subway train rushes down the tracks from behind. And this visual stunner (the subway itself becomes an inedible character of the movie) closes with this iridescent scene - Bulcsu going up holding an angel, who for most of the movie is encountered as as costumed bear, a cheerful and humane Eurydice in Bulcsu's Hades. Finally, another thing that drives this movie is the excellent electronica based soundtrack laid down by NEO; this music video captures both the visual and musical surfaces of this must watch film. If you do, you may never ride a subway again the same way.