The de facto captain of the team is Bulcsu, an introspective and brooding sort, clearly marching to the beat of his own drummer. The rest of the team include the professor, who has been around long enough to have seen it all, narcoleptic Muki, who falls asleep at inopportune times, and rookie Tibi.

The first time I saw this film, the effect was far darker and disturbing than on a second viewing, a reversal of what usually happens when repeat viewings bring out weightier aspects. In this case, I both liked it better and found the comic aspects resulted in a more balanced, stronger film. The series of mandatory one-sided conversations between the workers and the company psychiatrist is worth the price of admission. A biting comment on the value of low level labor, each employee brings his or her personal baggage to the job and the thanklessness of their work is hilariously pathetic.

These kontrollers are plagued by regular people who don’t have tickets or don’t speak the same language, and by a habitual nasty menace named Bootsie. They are also badgered by other teams of bullying kontrollers and thugs, and by their superiors, who only descend onto the grimy platforms when big trouble comes in the form of an unseen killer who "helps" people jump in front of speeding trains, suggesting a unforgiving avenging angel.

With spare, uncluttered production design that gives the location a surreal quality, the effect is not unlike a big underground stage where the inhabitants never leave the stage nor see the light of day. This is literally true for Bulcsu, who may be fleeing a former life and certainly struggles with his own inner demons, in addition to the daily indignities suffered on the job. After he encounters a pretty girl dressed as a bear, reality is further blurred as she becomes linked with the nightmare of the hooded killer/avenger stalking the subway.

Writer director Nimrod Antal adds bizarre touches like the conductor’s cab adorned with the candles and statues of a religious shrine, perhaps to suggest the sense of a higher power or guardian angel that might be looking out for these souls in their man-made purgatory. I’ll leave those open ended speculations for you to consider, and simply say the film is entertaining and reflective in the difficult genre of black comedy that can easily be an undecipherable disaster.