Bloodsuckers. Before the painting “Tick” Alexander Baranov and Bakhyt Kilibayev already had experience of joint work. In 1988, they in tandem wrote the script for Rashid Nugmanov’s film The Needle (1988). In the same year filmed "Three" - about the representatives of the social bottom. In 1989, they collaborated on the psychological drama Woman of the Day. All these paintings, with absolute external dissimilarity, have a single core - a reflection of the rapidly changing reality of the late USSR. Working on the script, both directors were well versed in the topic that was brought to the audience.
It is no coincidence that the story of the misadventures of one of the main characters - a doctor (Sergey Popov) - begins in the late 1970s, when the KGB of the USSR conducted the first (not particularly advertised) cases of corruption and bribery among high-ranking leaders of the Union republics. By 1990, the situation had escalated to its limit. One of the directors revelled in the “black”, savoring previously forbidden topics. And someone, like Alexander Baranov and Bakhyt Kilibayev, tried to reach those on whom the fate of the country depended. Apparently they didn't get through...
The main characters are three: police captain Adil Akhtanov (Tick) (Abdrashid Abdrakhmanov), police colonel (Artyk Jalliyev) and a doctor. Paying tribute to the "all-erotic orientation" of that time, the script spells out two places explicit female roles: Akhtanov's wife (Zhanna Kuanysheva) with whom Tick behaves quite cruelly. And Alika Smekhova in the role of Sveta - "girls" Tick. It was Smekhova, who in the previous film of the directors “Woman of the Day” played the main role of Alexandra, had to embody the original director’s plan to bring to orgasm... a tube with toothpaste!
The film is controversial but interesting. There are some delays, but all of them can be explained if you try to understand the symbolism of the picture. The scenes of butchering animal carcasses fit perfectly with what those who were primarily responsible for the country did to the country. Very interesting scenes with live fish. The first, with large sazans slowly dying on hot asphalt, is like the Soviet people, torn from their usual way of life. He is still alive, so the hand of the tick appears in the frame, trying to alleviate the suffering of a dying fish.
The final scene with aquarium fish carries a completely different message - the "bellied little thing", even dressed in big stars and high positions, has no right to exist. Repeated scenes of “beating” with a tick of a boxing pear are unsuccessful attempts not so much to reach as to break through to the top, because the fish, as is known, rots from the head. The trick part of the picture is set well, and the idea with oxygen pillows is generally “excellent”.
Undoubted success of the film - the selection of the actor for the main role. Abdrashid Abdrakhmanov is extremely charismatic in the role of Tick. And most importantly, it’s completely natural in the picture. This is especially true of the finale, which could not be different, not even because of the logic of film history itself, but because of what happened in the country in those years. The title of the painting “Tick” in this case can be considered not only as the ability of the police captain to “get into” the investigation and bring it to its logical conclusion, but also as the ability of the political system to suck the rebellious spirit of those few who were capable of resistance.
A controversial film about a difficult time, in which few honest people did not forget that we can not change where we came from, but we can choose where to go next. . .