Tato (1995) User Reviews (3)

If you don't show love that doesn't mean there's no love

[bartekfm · 7/10 · 25 August 2008]

Michal (Boguslaw Linda) is a busy man. He works in movie industry, travels and he doesn't have much time for his family. But when the crisis comes, he rises to the occasion and fights for his daughter. Crisis in, at first sight, good family shows how much he loves both his wife and daughter but has to give up on one of them.

Very good tale of dad-daughter love with nice acting. Something for everyone, really good movie which relates to discrimination of fathers in courts when it comes to assign care of a child which is actually pretty common (still) problem in Poland. There's a belief that no matter how women is bad and unprepared for raising a child, she should do so, just because she is a mother. As one of the characters in movie says: "Everywhere in the world mothers raise their kids, but only in Poland they get monuments for that".

Overcooked

[p-stepien · 3/10 · 19 August 2010]

Michal Sulecki (Boguslaw Linda) breaks up with his wife Linda (Dorota Segda). In the middle of an ensuing divorce is Kasia (Ola Maliszewska), a 10 year old child with an immense musical talent. Despite Linda being diagnosed mentally unstable the court case ends up with Kasia being given over to the mother. With Linda sent off to a mental institution the real caretaker becomes Linda's mother. Michal has no intention to allow this state of affairs to persist...

The movie has immense promise and deals with the unsung issue of mothers having more rights than fathers in modern courts, especially in Eastern European countries where motherhood is sanctity. The subject matter is very intense and could be made into a deep meaningful movie. However this directorial debut of camera operator Maciej Slesicki is a very badly made movie. Instead of sticking with the main course it delves into thriller, horror and absurd humour, which just doesn't fit with the overall feel of the movie (including some in-jokes towards the movie business).

The movie ending is the coup de etat of bad filmmaking... And basically makes you feel that the director is a chauvinist pig with a deep resentment towards women. All women are portrayed very stereotypically and most of the presentations make them into stupid dumb nagging broads. The only characters fleshed out are unsurprisingly men and you can't help but feel that in this movie dealing with men's rights a woman's touch in the script would do a world of good.

All in all it watches like a soapy manifest of the poor depraved modern man. Despite the intriguing first 30 minutes it all goes downhill with the bad direction and the unresolved issues concerning the ego of Mr Slesicki.

Missed opportunity

[hof-4 · 4/10 · 30 March 2024]

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.