Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
The Mattachine Family is a drama about a gay couple who take in a foster child only to have the mother reclaims the child after a year.
Thomas (Nico Tortorella), a freelance photographer, and Oscar (Juan Pablo Di Pace), a struggling actor, are a married couple living in LA with their foster son, Arthur. Arthur’s mother put him in foster care after she was arrested for theft, found guilty and put behind bars. After serving a year in jail, she’s paroled and decides to take Arthur back and raise him on her own.
As the reunification process between Arthur and his mother begins, Oscar is starting a promising new television series filming in Michigan, leaving Thomas to shoulder the burden. While Oscar pours all his energy into his career, Thomas is left feeling alone and empty. And with that, the drama begins.
Some Thoughts:
The Mattachine Family has an interesting premise, but it’s not committed to exploring the subject in depth. Instead of delving into the dynamics of Thomas and Oscar’s relationship, it focuses solely on Thomas’s longing for fatherhood and his desire to establish a family with Oscar. This is all well and good, but there’s so much more going on. Oscar was the one who initially wanted to have a child, so why is his career suddenly so much more important? Since they got Arthur when Oscar’s career was going nowhere, we can only assume that his need for a family stemmed from that. But this is never addressed, nor does Thomas ask Oscar about it.
Aside from the abandonment story being dropped, the rest of the film is adequate at best. The acting would be fine for a television drama, but not a feature film. The overall look, feel, and script are all very much the same. It’s okay, but nothing to write home about. If Thomas and Oscar’s relationship was explored deeper, this wouldn’t matter so much. In fact, a better cast would have given me a reason to recommend the film. However, that’s not the case.
The Final Verdict:
The Mattachine Family is a drama that could use a better cast, a more thoughtful script, and better director.