THE MATTACHINE FAMILY (2023) review
written by: Andy Vallentine
produced by: Scot Boland, Michael Diaz, Siddharth Ganji, Stuart Heinlein, Cameron Hutchison & Andy Vallentine
directed by: Danny Vallentine
rating: not rated
runtime: 99 min.
U.S. release date: June 2, 2024 (Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV+)
Understanding “Mattachine” before or after watching “The Mattachine Family” isn’t required, but it adds context and may offer a better understanding and appreciation for the film. I can say that from experience, going into this dramedy by director Danny Vallentine, from a screenplay by his husband, Andy Vallentine, I thought Mattachine was the last name of the family in the movie. It’s not.
A quick Google and Wikipedia search illuminated my outlook and brought me to the Mattachine Society. That’s a national gay rights organization founded in 1950 by communist and labor activist Harry Hay in Los Angeles. He had formed a group with a collection of male friends to protect and improve the rights of gay men. It eventually inspired similar groups in other American cities to create. A black-and-white photo of Hay and his original group can be seen in “The Mattachine Family,” as are the Mattachine Steps, an outdoor flight of steps located in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, making it clear that word Mattachine and the Mattachine Society has had an undeniable impact in the lives of Andy and Daniel Vallentine.
The director and writer draw partly upon their own lives for their feature-length directorial debut, and the result is an engaging look at same-sex relationships that comes from a place of experience.
The modern-day story here revolves around Thomas (Nico Tortorella) and Oscar (Juan Pablo Di Pace), a married couple in Los Angeles who, until recently, used to foster parent a young boy until his birth mother legally claimed him. Each of them has responded to this significant change in different ways. It seems photographer Thomas feels the loss more than Oscar, who is recently busy with a hopeful new acting gig. The actor has worked hard to shake off that child actor stigma and just had an additional two seasons greenlit to a television series he stars in. However, that gig took Oscar to Michigan, where the show was filmed, leaving Thomas back in Los Angeles at the home where family memories still linger.
While “The Mattachine Family” establishes what a close and loving marriage Thomas and Oscar have during the first act, what it excels at doing throughout is showing that, most of all, these are very different men. The Vallentines present them as whole individuals, with neither of them as “the bad guy.” We may primarily see this story from the perspective of Tortorella’s Thomas (who also serves as a documentarian narrator of sorts for the movie), but that’s because Oscar is away. That may not be the only reason, though. Thomas is more of an outgoing extrovert who thrives from maintaining the friendships he’s cultivated over many years. There’s an indication that Oscar is the opposite, and it’s taken Thomas to get Oscar to attend social events, and that could be because he’s someone who’s been in the spotlight since he was a child.
Thomas and Oscar have both agreed that, as much as they’ve enjoyed parenthood, that chapter of their lives is over after what happened. Such a response is understandable, considering how heartbroken they both are. However, it’s a decision that doesn’t have to be finite, and Thomas realizes he’s not ready to end that chapter permanently. He’s discovered that being a father is a tremendous part of his identity. Oscar believes that may be because Thomas’s father died when he was a young boy, but regardless, it’s still who he is and doesn’t negate where he’s at and what he feels is missing.
Friendship plays a huge role in Thomas’s realization over time. His best friend, Leah (Emily Hampshire) is married to Sonia (Cloie Wyatt-Taylor), a couple who have been using IVF treatments for their desire to become parents. Sometimes, a film like this reminds us that friends are the family we can choose. Thomas is fortunate to have such support, and from these friends, he also meets others, such as Todd (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) and Annie (Heather Matarazzo), who enrich his point of view in one way or another. Along with Leah and Sonia, there’s also Jamie (a delightful Jake Choi), another friend who knows Thomas well.
These are friends with whom he shares a history and a community, and the Vallentines do a fine job at offering flashbacks that give us a new dimension to these supporting characters and even the relationship between Thomas and Oscar. In fact, one of the more telling moments in their relationship comes when we see the couple at a photography exhibit of homosexual subjects. When Oscar shares his observation of the art, Thomas replies, “Homosexuality at its core is provocative.” To which Oscar admits that’s his problem, “This is what everyone thinks gay people are like. It’s like the ever-expanding title of our community. The LGBTQ plus plus plus. How can we be one thing when we’re expected to be everything?” He’s got a valid point and it’s not a void perspective. It’s what many gay men feel, but such a stance doesn’t come up that often in film (or in any social media platform), probably because people are afraid to say anything for fear of it blowing up.
That flashback moment is one of many instances in which the Vallentines present the film’s central relationship in what feels like a real place. It could very well be that such conversations are ones they’ve had themselves (after all, they are parents themselves) or the kind they’ve seen and heard in their community. When the story leads to an inevitably challenging conversation that Thomas and Oscar must have, it’s never hysterical or overdramatic. It’s two people trying to understand each other and still trying to connect. It’s scary and it’s hard…like any relationship.
“The Mattachine Family” benefits from showing this kind of authenticity. It helps to have such a natural and talented cast, many of whom are either gay or non-binary, which can help accentuate the reality of the communities these characters are a part of as Thomas and Oscar, Tortorello and Di Pace have an obvious convincing chemistry and are fascinating characters even apart from their couple status. Tortorello is undeniably charming and conveys many emotions as the main protagonist. I appreciated how he is used as something of the avatar for the Vallentine’s own experiences, often narrating his feelings on growing up gay and then accepting who he is as an adult.
Andy and Danny Vallentine offer a happy ending without fully revealing what’s transpiring for Thomas and Oscar. They leave it to the viewer to decide what happened, and it’s really quite refreshing.
