Tato (Daddy) is Michal, cameraman by profession. He lives with his wife Ewa and his ten year old daughter Kasia. Ewa's deteriorating mental health is putting strain on the marriage and soon the custody of Kasia, either by his father or by her grandmather Jadwiga (Ewa's mother) is in question and motivates a court battle. The decision should be in favor of Michal, but he is no paragon of fatherhood. Although he cares for Kasia he is a philanderer, has a drinking problem and has been abusive in the past to Ewa while under the influence. Jadwiga despises Michal wholeheartedly and will do anything to prevent him gaining custody of Kasia.
So far, so good. The first half of the movie moves at a brisk comedic pace and there are nice directorial touches such as the first scene (that shows the kind of movie Michal works in), and courtroom theatricals are deftly exploited. At this point the film veers into the melodramatic with touches of horror and careens towards an ending so contrived and over the top that seems to belong to another movie.
The positives: excellent acting by the cast that includes some icons of Polish cinema (Boguslaw Linda as Michal, Krystyna Janda as Magda, Michal's lawyer) I watched with pleasure the the first hour of the film. Not so the rest.
