BLUE BAYOU (NETFLIX) (2021)

SYNOPSIS: An official selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival from award-winning writer/director Justin Chon, Blue Bayou is the moving and timely story of a uniquely American family fighting for their future. Antonio LeBlanc (Chon), a Korean adoptee raised in a small town in the Louisiana bayou, is married to the love of his life Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-dad to their beloved daughter Jessie. Struggling to make a better life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past when he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Justin Chon (if you are old enough, you seen him before in the Twilight movies) stars, wrote and directed Blue Bayou, a melodramatic movie about family, racial and immigration issues.

Antonio LeBlanc (Chon) who is of Korean origin is a struggling tattoo artist living in a small town in Louisiana. He is married to a healthcare worker, Kathy (Alicia Vikander), has a stepdaughter who loves him a lot and a baby daughter on the way. Beside his financial problem, he is also facing deportation from the country because his adoptive parents never filed for his citizenship.

On the positive side of things, Chon delivers a meaningful drama about this particular real-life issue that doesn’t make a lot of sense when you think about it. For a country built on immigration, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 created a lot of issues for those who gets deported from the only country they called home since young.

Chon consulted at least five adoptees for his story not merely from an individual’s point of view but still it attracted quite a controversy when it was released. For his part, Chon unmistakeably is a talented filmmaker to watch out for. The cast performances on the whole is flawless, he knows how to frame his shots (the movie is shot on 16mm film), the movie has a real purpose as well.

But then there is the pacing issue which is hindered by one too many subplots. There’s his terminally-ill acquaintance, Parker (Linh Dan Pham) who is more of a distraction than poetic, the overzealous actions of Kathy’s ex-husband colleague, Denny who got Antonio into this predicament in the first place and a bit of absurdness in the third act. Something Chon could have tightened.

Yet Blue Bayou deserved a watch despite the occasional heavy-handedness. Interestingly, the picture boasts some of the finest visual ever for an indie movie and most importantly, a heartbreaking drama about insane bureaucratic and a compelling storyline that reflects the cruelty of life.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee