Justin Chon wears many hats in the heartwarming and melodramatic Blue Bayou. He wrote it. He directed it. He starred as the lead character Antonio LeBlanc, a man struggling with making it in a tough world for a man with a criminal record who all he wants to do is provide for his wife Kathy (Oscar winner Alicia Vikander), his “adopted” daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske) and their soon to arrive baby. But he faces adversity, prejudice, and disdain in their native New Orleans. It forces him, on occasion, to do things he regrets. But in the end, a person has to provide for their family, no matter the dire circumstances.
Antonio cannot catch a break, yet simultaneously he is a bright light—an effervescent individual who always looks on the bright side of life. That, amongst other elements, attracts him to his wife and their love is pure and obviously enduring. He works as a mechanic as demand requires, but his big problem is his new parole officer Randy (Brad Blanchard), who isn’t necessarily on the up and up.. one can see problems coming from a mile away. The mystery or question is how Antonio responds and reacts to it.
He is always promising Kathy a better life, even though we get the sense she is simply content surrounded by family and the man who she adores. She has an ex—Ace (Mark O’Brien) the police officer father of her young daughter Jessie who seems to show up at the most inopportune times and to use his badge to insist on parental rights courts have thus far denied him.
Toss in an enormous problem, the fact that he’s adopted from Korea and his parents never filed for his citizenship. When trouble involves the law is seeing to deport Antonio to a country he hasn’t seen since he was three. Due to the Child Citizen Act of 2000, this was causing an epidemic of deportations of souls that were for all intents and purposes… American.
This has become a huge problem and here’s hoping that Blue Bayou shines a light on this subject. We’ve heard of DACA issues, illegal immigrant concerns that dominate headlines, but what has been missing is the countless individuals who were deported from the only home they knew. This is an American travesty and as handled by Chon in his feature film, he gives it heart, soul, and a three-dimensional effect to the cruelty committed by a system set up to keep foreigners out and strengthen the hold on white Americans to continue their way of life that has been etched out of 100s of years of horrifying cruelty towards our fellow man and woman.
There is a tone to Blue Bayou that is continually endearing and surrounds concepts such as love, family, loving one’s home, a celebration of a community and its citizens that encompass an area of land where we call home. Having personally had an affinity for The Crescent City for saving my life six years ago, Chon has crafted many aspects of a love letter to the Bayou and the entire surrounding area that is soaked in history, culture, musical heritage, and a cornucopia of souls that hail from all corners of the world.
At times, Blue Bayou is tough to watch, but it is also something that is magical in its presentation and subject matter. Shot with an eye for painting landscapes that pop off the screen is cinematographers Ante Cheng and Matthew Chuang. You haven’t seen sunsets until you have seen a Cajun sunset that seems to dance off the floors of heaven.
Vikander is….she brings a soft caring to her character that would do anything for Antonio. One gets the sense that this is a love affair blessed by the heavens above and that nothing, even a misguided government will keep their mutual adoration separated. In many ways, Blue Bayou is a love story between a husband and wife that will inspire us all to aspire to find that person who makes our hearts skip a beat and in the end, go over and above what is humanly possible to ensure the happiness of another a human being.
Chon is everywhere. He is storyteller who waxes poetic in such a manner that it envelopes our hearts and minds through every frame of his picture. The filmmaker also has a lot to say without hitting his audience over their heads. They are both moved and entertained and that is the key to reaching folks and changing hearts and minds about the policies that our government has enacted in order to supposedly keep us safe.
From what? Love?
Grade: A