Blue Bayou Movie Review

“Blue Bayou” tells a rarely told tale of those brought to the States as young children, and now threatened with potential deportation. It is similar to the DREAMER kids, but these are not usually from South American countries or Mexico. These are children from overseas, adopted into White families, but never fully made into U.S. citizens. This is a story of how that situation can break up a family, and break your heart.

Antonio LeBlanc (played by Justin Chon) is the adult who was born in Korea and adopted into a family in Louisiana. Living in New Orleans with his wife Kathy (played by Alicia Vikander), he makes a meager living in a tattoo parlor. He is the step-father to Kathy’s young daughter Jesse (played by Sydney Kowalske). Jesse’s biological father is Ace Cooper (played by Mark O’Brien), a local New Orleans cop. Antonio and Kathy are expecting another baby soon, and money is getting tight.

Antonio finds it hard to get new work, due to some past trouble with the law. He was charged with stealing a motorcycle, and that record haunts him now. He does not have enough income to pay for his tattoo rental area, and he gets turned down for new work. Ace Cooper, the cop, is upset that he does not get to see his daughter Jesse very often. Kathy explains that is because Jesse prefers a dad who did not leave them. A small argument in a store between Antonio and Kathy gets the attention of Ace and his racist partner Denny (played by Emory Cohen).

There is a fracas between Antonio and Ace and the other cop Denny. Antonio ends up in jail, but he soon processed by ICE (Immigration Control and Enforcement). A judge hears his case, and he finds that Antonio never received citizenship. He sets Antonio up with two choices. He can agree to self-deport, and go back to Korea. If he does that, he can apply to return in a legal fashion. Or he can fight it in court. But if he loses, he can never return to the States. His birthplace, Korea, would be his home – forever.

Antonio and Kathy find a lawyer who might be able to help. Barry Boucher (played by Vondie Curtis-Hall) agrees to work on his case, for a fee. Antonio does not have that kind of money, and Kathy is pregnant. But she goes back to work part-time to earn some dough. Antonio falls back into a bad crowd who want him to help with a big robbery at a motorcycle dealership. It might be a risk that Antonio feels forced into taking. Also, he meets an older woman named Parker (played by Linh Dan Pham).

Parker is a refugee from Viet Nam. She wants a tattoo and Antonio helps her out. Her family got separated in the ‘Boat Lift’ operations back at the end of the War. She and her father made it to America. Her mother and her brother did not. But she has end-stage cancer and she wants to live a full life. She does not have to worry about being departed, like what is happening to Antonio.

The lawyer Boucher gets Antonio a new hearing, after Antonio pays with the money from the robbery. Things are looking up. Antonio has his adopted mother still alive, but he had told Kathy that she was dead. Barry Boucher tells him that a character witness like that would be huge for his case. But Antonio says he wants nothing to do with her. Kathy is shocked that Antonio has been untruthful lately; about where he got all that money, about if his adoption mother was dead. She takes Jesse and moves out.

Antonio gets the second hearing before the judge. But he is found first by the racist cop Denny and his henchmen. He never is able to show up and fend for himself. He will be sent off back to his birth land, but it is not his home land. There is a goodbye scene at the airport. It is devastating show of raw emotions and of shredded families. The US bureaucracy and the unfeeling agents of the law make for a painful separation.

“Blue Bayou” relies on the strength of man behind it all, Justin Chon. He is the Producer, Writer, Director, and plays the main character (Antonio). He has done an excellent job in each of these areas, and the movie is emotionally charged with his passion. He does a fine job in the lead role as Antonio.  Alicia Vikander is also up to task to play Kathy, and she gives a vulnerable performance.

Many eyes in this country are focused on the Southern border, and the undocumented residents who are in this country now. The current adults who had been brought into the US as kids are now called DREAMER kids. Other ones in the same situation, but brought in by adopted parents, are sometimes in a world of hurt.