Photo credit: Focus Features. Courtesy of Focus Features
Is it fair that a small child, legally adopted from another nation, is responsible for paperwork errors about citizenship, which puts the now-grown child’s immigration status in jeopardy? It sounds ridiculous but, in fact, that legal loophole does exist for some adoptees. BLUE BAYOU is Justin Chon’s powerful, winning drama about this subject, in which writer/director/producer Chon both directs and plays the lead character, Antonio LeBlanc, a struggling New Orleans tattoo artist who was legally adopted at age 3 from South Korea but now faces deportation due to paperwork left incomplete by his adoptive parents. This powerful drama features nuanced, appealing and realistic performances by Chon and Alicia Vikander, as his pregnant wife, and a wonderful performance by Sydney Kowalske as her seven-year-old daughter Jesse. BLUE BAYOU mixes a warm, realistic portrait of a family, with a particularly close father-daughter bond, with searing emotion in scenes where Chon’s character faces the immigration legal system that could change his life.
Antonio (Justin Chon), now in his thirties, is trying hard to support his family and be a good husband to wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and father to stepdaughter Jesse, the only father she has ever known. Jesse’s biological father, a cop called Ace (Mark O’Brien), abandoned Jesse and her mother when Jesse was small, but now wants to be part of his daughter’s life. On the other hand, Antonio has always been there for both Kathy and her daughter, despite his own troubled childhood which included abuse and youthful criminal record for the theft of motorcycles. Although they struggle financially and Antonio worries about money once the new baby arrives, the family is solid, happy and enjoying life together. When an ordinary parental disagreement while shopping in a grocery store gets a bit loud, Kathy’s ex, a cop called Ace steps in, along with his racist partner Denny. There is a scuffle, and Antonio is arrested. While that charge is dropped, Antonio is taken into custody by ICE over his immigration status.
We do get that famous song in the title, sung by Vikander, a nice moment in the film. BLUE BAYOU is a real tour-de-force by Chon, handling both his roles as director and lead actor with impressive skill. Long before Antonio faces his immigration crisis, the family wins our hearts. Chon is charismatic on-screen and we can’t help but like Antonio and cheer on a young man trying so hard to do the right thing. Much of the film’s appeal is in its the relationships, and particularly Antonio’s relationship with his stepdaughter.
Although Antonio even has a friend who is an ICE officer, who tries to help, the law limits what he can do. It is a completely unfair situation but one that is not rare for international adopted children, and in fact Chon’s script was inspired by a real-life case of a Korean-born adoptee. Chon has dealt with issues faced by Asian immigrants before, including in his film GOOK. Being Asian makes it harder for internationally adopted children to quietly blend in, despite being culturally American, something Chon highlights in a telling opening scene. Antonio, interviewing for a better paying job, faces skepticism about his identity despite his Louisiana accent and politely answers racist questions about his name and where he is from. Once immigration steps into his life, Antonio’s settled life is imperiled particularly by his youthful criminal record for stealing motorcycles, a past he has been struggling to overcome as a upright family man.
The film does a nice job with the accents, which sound authentic for New Orleans but are never overdone and distracting. Before Chon’s Antonio faces his unfair legal situation, the character wins our hearts, as does the film’s little family. Much of the film’s appeal is in its characters. One of the joys of the film is how realistic relationship is between the couple is portrayed by Chon and Vikander, with all the back-and-forth of real life parents and daily disagreements between any couple but with the underlying love between them. It is a realism few films get so right. The chemistry between Chon and Vikander is strong, and Vikander turns in one of her best performances here.
Likewise, the relationship between seven-year-old Jesse and Antonio, the only father she has ever known, is realistic and charming, and completely wins our hearts. Young Sydney Kowalske is cute, sweet, and believable in her role as Jesse, and the appealing scenes between father and daughter are among the film’s best.
Chon does have a message he wants to get across, and the film is sometimes heavy-handed in how it does that, although by the film’s end, his pull-no-punches approach feels justified. In 2000, Congress passed a law granting citizenship to children adopted from overseas but, oddly, excluding those who turned 18 before the law was passed. It makes no real sense, and drawing attention to that legal flaw may correct it.
The film is a bit slow to start, with a few too many scenes where Antonio revisits the same memory of his birth mother, and there is a side plot about another Asian immigrant, a cancer patient who immigrated with her family from Vietnam, which seems to add little to the story, other than portraying a different Asian American experience.
However, the film kicks into a higher gear once Antonio gets entangled with the immigration system, and leads to some emotionally searing scenes, ones that might leave the audience emotionally moved and also angry at the film’s end, with a few real-life examples of this unfair system shown with the end credits.
But any flaws in this film are well counterbalanced by the warmth and charm BLUE BAYOU creates around this family. Chon sparkles with on-camera as Antonio, creating a lead character we can’t help but like and cheer for, as the dad and husband who is trying to do the right thing. The wonderful acting performances by Chon, Vikander, and young Kowalske especially, go a long way to support this worthy drama.
Supporting performances are also strong. Vondie Curtis-Hall plays as immigration lawyer Barry Boucher who tries to help the family and Mark O’Brien plays Jesse’s biological father Ace, who develops more layers than we expect as the man who now regrets abandoning his daughter. Linh Dan Pham is touching as Parker, the cancer patient Chon meets, who introduces him to her family and a represents a different Asian immigrate experience. Emory Cohen plays Ace’s racist partner Denny, an all-round jerk, the one character who is a bit too over the top.
Despite a few flaws, this is a strong film that blends an appealing family drama and charismatic lead character with a hard-hitting message about an absurd technicality with the potential to ruin lives. Overall, BLUE BAYOU is a powerful film, filled with strong performances and delivering an important message with a punch, a drama that warrants to trip to the theater and also might be one watch come awards season.
BLUE BAYOU opens Friday, Sept. 17, in theaters.
RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars
