Michael Sicinsky on Valery's Ankle

"Valery's Ankle is angry, ferocious, and pulls no punches in its exploration of the dark underbelly of Canadian masculinity. Kashmere's film examines hockey, and hockey violence in particular, as the return of the repressed in the Canadian psyche, the place where fears of cultural inferiority and an overdeveloped sense of polite civilization suddenly burst forth as animal vengeance. [...] Kashmere's editing is, as they say, bravura. His escalating montages of slashes, highsticking, and frequent bareknucle brawls not only demonstrate his thesis; they also viscerally convey the horrific intensity and secret vicarious pleasure such violence produces in the spectator. We're implicated by Kashmere's neo-Futurist cavalcade of speed and savagery, and this makes the artist's grave tone all the more disturbing. Other Canadian filmmakers (most notably John Greyson, Atom Egoyan, and Guy Maddin) have explored hockey as an essential yet problematic part of Canadian identity, although not in this degree of depth. But where those men leavened their considerations with humor, Kashmere never lets us off the hook. If the official history of Canada is one of clean cities, good government and multicultural tolerance, the counternarrative of Valery's Ankle demonstrates a kind of Law of Conservation with respect to masculine brutality. It all ends up on the ice, under the sanction of sport, and Kashmere tells us in no uncertain terms that this simply isn't good enough. And I wouldn't be surprised if this bracing message is one certain cultural gatekeepers weren't particularly eager to hear." FULL REVIEW