An angry ex-hockey star meets the surprise sister he never knew existed — family therapy, Russian style.
Nikita Kryukov is a successful hockey player in the past, who ended his sports and then his agent career because of his uncontrollable anger. No one is ready to work with him. Suddenly, he receives a message about his mother's death. He breaks off to his hometown. But it turns out that this message was sent by the mother's youngest daughter from her second husband. After his father's death, Nikita almost immediately went to Moscow, and then to America, and all this time he did not communicate with his mother — he could not forgive the fact that she almost immediately got together with another.
Acting
Kurtsyn's volcanic restraint — rage bubbling under every silence
Writing
Deception as meet-cute: cruel, hilarious, weirdly hopeful
Director
Maksim Maksimov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Post-Soviet 'provincial return' narratives reflect real Russian anxiety about failed Moscow dreams and shame-fueled homecomings.
The title's double meaning — hockey hook penalty, plus the captain who can't escape his own anger — only fully lands after the climax.
RU
