REVIEWED - KONTROLL: This grungy Hungarian film opens with a loquacious disclaimer from a representative of the Budapest Transport Company advising the viewer that what follows is fiction and ought not to be confused with the doubtless idyllic pleasures of travelling on the city's underground train system. That advisory will be reassuring to tourists, given that what follows would engender trepidation in the most adventurous traveller.

The title refers to the motley groups of ticket inspectors who dress in (very) plain clothes, patrol the station and operate a hierarchical system rooted in intense rivalry. At the lowest echelon is the team that includes moody young Bulscu (Sándor Csányi), who lives in the station and, just like the movie itself, never moves outside it.

Bulscu is obsessed with tracking down an elusive fare-dodger, but a much more serious prey surfaces when a hooded killer strikes repeatedly, pushing passengers down on to the paths of incoming trains. He also finds himself distracted by a boozy train driver's daughter (Eszter Balla), who, for reasons best known to herself, turns up dressed in a bear costume.

That outfit is one of the calculated quirks that slow down the progress of this gritty thriller laced with surreal humour. However, for most of the time, the movie injects and sustains a cracking pace under the direction of Nimrod Antal, who was born in Los Angeles and studied film in Hungary. He makes dexterous and thoroughly atmospheric use of the trains, tunnels, platforms and escalators within the subway system in this assured, energetic and highly promising first feature film.