WATCH: Nico Tortorella stars in this new dramedy about a gay couple hoping to start a family
After they lose their foster kid, a gay couple grapples with what it means to be a "family" in 'The Mattachine Family.'
The Mattachine Family is a film that starts with a goodbye.
For the past year, partners Thomas (Younger‘s Nico Tortorella) and Oscar (Mamma Mia!‘s Juan Pablo Di Pace) have fostered a young kid named Arthur, and in that time the family built a bond stronger than they could’ve ever imaged.
But, one day, Arthur’s mother returns, leaving an empty space in the home and hearts of the couple.
Meanwhile, Thomas’ oldest and best friend Leah (Schitt’s Creek‘s Emily Hampshire) is dealing with a loss of her own, having recently miscarried. As they grieve together and try to move on, the group of queer thirty-somethings wonders what it means for them to have a family of their own.
From first-time feature filmmaker Andy Vallentine (The Letter Men)—co-written with his husband, Danny—The Mattachine Family is a new dramedy about modern fatherhood and friendship from a queer perspective.
The LA-set film takes it’s name from the Silver Lake neighborhood’s Mattachine Steps, which are in turn named after the Mattachine Society—one of the country’s earliest gay rights organizations—in honor of founder Harry Hay.
“The Mattachine Family is an intensely personal story that was born out of real conversations my husband and I had around fatherhood and what it looks like for two gay men,” Vallentine says in an official press statement.
“Thomas and Oscar both came of age during a time when certain rights like marriage and parenthood were not granted to gay people,” the director continues. “They had accepted and embraced the life they thought would be available to them as gay men. While the vast shift in gay rights in the last two decades has meant more freedoms for gay people, it also meant the loss of a community and collective identity predicated on the status as an outsider.
Thomas suddenly finds himself married to a man, and briefly, a father—two things he had never considered a possibility for himself—and is left to wonder about selfhood, friendship, and what it means to be a gay man in this time.”
With a cast of familiar faces—including The Princess Diaries‘ Heather Matarazzo, Single Parents‘ Jake Choi, Hacks‘ Carl Clemons-Hopkins, and Teen Beach Movie‘s Garrett Clayton—The Mattachine Family is preparing to make its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF).
In-person SIFF attendees can catch the premiere (with the filmmakers and cast in attendance) on Friday, May 12, with an encore screening the following afternoon. And, for the rest of us, the film will be available to watch via the fest’s streaming platform from May 22 through 28.
Below, check out an early preview clip from the film, featuring Tortorella and Hampshire and the eponymous Mattachine steps. Stay tuned for a full trailer and further release details.
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