The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Emotional ‘Blue Bayou’ hits home at times, misses at others
‘Blue Bayou’ a sometimes compelling, sometimes messy drama about immigration policy
With “Blue Bayou,” filmmaker Justin Chon is shining a light on what is a very sad situation, one many may find surprising.
The drama — which he wrote, directed and stars in — is the story of a man born in another country but adopted as a child by an American family and who now faces deportation due to an unfortunate set of circumstances. (A USA Today story from December examines this issue, laying out loopholes in legislation that has allowed this situation to continue, as well as proposed bills aimed at closing those loopholes.)
Chon was inspired to craft the story of a KoreanAmerican who faces likely deportation after a runin with a racist police officer after reading articles about such cases. And, as you’d suspect, “Blue Bayou” is an impassioned, heartfelt work.
It also is a mixed bag in terms of quality, a film with some genuinely powerful moments but one that also is rough around the edges and populated by characters — especially Chon’s Antonio LeBlanc — who make distractingly wild and poorly thought-out decisions.
Antonio is a tattoo artist in Louisiana with a loving wife, Kathy (Alicia Vikander), an adoring young stepdaughter, Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), and a baby on the way with Kathy. He has to contend with Jessie’s fear he will not love her in the same way once a child of his own comes into the world, so he lets her skip school so they can spend a day together.
His bigger issue is his finances. Early on — in an interview Jessie has tagged along to — we see him tell a prospective employer that he would be a great asset to the business, that the two felonies on his record from years earlier were nonviolent and should not be held against him.
“I don’t think so,” he’s told.
He and Jessie scurry from the job interview to the hospital, where Kathy has gotten a sonogram and they learn they’re having a daughter. In the hallway, he meets Parker (LinhDan Pham, “Mr. Nobody”), a Vietnamese-American woman going through her own difficulties and with whom he will form a bond.
Another key player is local cop Ace (Mark O’Brien, “Ready or Not”), who’s Kathy’s ex and Jessie’s biological father. Jessie is scared of him, and while even Antonio suggests Ace be able to see her more, Kathy refuses.
At a grocery store where Kathy and Antonio are arguing about how many snack-related requests they can grant Jessie given their money struggles, Ace walks in with his partner, Denny (Emory Cohen “BlacKkKlansman”). When Ace encounters them, a larger spat occurs, and Denny takes issue with Antonio turning his back on him, the two physically struggle and Denny arrests him.
The arrest leads to the revelation that Antonio never officially became a U.S. citizen, much to his surprise. And if he can’t meet certain qualifications, he will be deported to Asia.
To have any chance, he’ll have to retain a lawyer, which will cost thousands of dollars — money he definitely doesn’t have — to start. And, thus, a bad decision is made, leading to more problems for him and his growing family.
Ultimately, “Blue Bayou” is an intimate portrait of struggle and thus is inherently sad for significant stretches. That shouldn’t be held against it.
It would work better, though, if we could more easily identify with its main character. Antonio is a good man at his core, despite his penchant for getting into trouble; but, because of his flaws, he can be a little hard to root for at times.
It’s easier to feel for Kathy, even though you question her decision-making at times, too. The character is elevated by Vikander — an Academy Award winner for 2015’s “The Danish Girl” whose stellar work also includes “Ex Machina” (2014) and “The Light Between Oceans” (2016) — who, unsurprisingly, turns in the movie’s most powerful performance.
Chon, whose 2017 film “Gook,” earned some awards on the film-festival scene, does admirable work behind and in front of the camera here, but he’s unrefined in both areas. “Blue Bayou” — which, as the name would suggest, features some compelling regional scenery — builds to an emotional climax in which, simply put, Chon lays it on really thick.
If nothing else, Chon has added to the tapestry of works of fiction that in recent years have sought to address the complexities of the state of immigration today. Unlike aspects of his films, that is tough to criticize.