MOVIE

Daddy

2020 · 52 min · Documentary

Brendan, an American anthropologist, used to wander the planet exploring human nature in all its forms and beauty. But today, he has to embark on a very different project. After falling in love with a Danish woman, he ends up a stay-at-home dad of two toddlers in Copenhagen, and his own boring life as a caregiver becomes his only object of study. Once unable to conform to a conventional lifestyle, he now discovers the few joys and many hardships of child rearing, as well as the bizarre culture of hygge that surrounds him. Abandoned by his mother as a kid, Brendan swore to never inflict the same trauma on his children, but he suddenly understands the prison she found herself in: “We need to find another word than love for this,” he ponders. Filmed over five years, this tragicomic diary is a relatable, taboo-free look at the exquisite torture of parenthood.