There is a python-matlab bridge which is unique in the sense that Matlab runs in the background so you don't have the startup cost each time you call a Matlab function. https://github.com/jaderberg/python-matlab-bridge. it's as easy as downloading and the following code:

from pymatbridge import Matlab

mlab = Matlab(matlab='/Applications/MATLAB_R2011a.app/bin/matlab')

mlab.start()

res = mlab.run('path/to/yourfunc.m', {'arg1': 3, 'arg2': 5})

print res['result']

where the contents of yourfunc.m would be something like this:

%% MATLAB

function lol = yourfunc(args)

arg1 = args.arg1;

arg2 = args.arg2;

lol = arg1 + arg2;

end