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The simplicity of the opening sequence of “Blue Bayou” is both devastating and effective. Antonio LeBlanc (Justin Chon, who also wrote and directed the film) is in the middle of a job interview when the camera pans to him. He is asked where he is from by an unknown voice offscreen. Antonio claims that it is a few miles north of New Orleans. The voice returns with these words: “No, I don’t think so. What part of the world do you come from?” Antonio isn’t unfamiliar with the situation. He’s been to this place before. He is essentially compelled to say “Korea,” despite the fact that he was adopted and brought to America when he was three years old, has no ties to Korea, and considers himself to be a naturalized American citizen. He is a citizen of the United States. “Blue Bayou” is at its best in small moments like this, where the point is made without the need to hammer it home with excessive force. Blue Bayou contains a lot of “hammering home,” with symbols being wielded as mallets throughout the storyline.
‘Blue Bayou,’ to use a popular song, is not subtle, but neither is the issue at hand. People who were adopted into American families, sometimes as long ago as 30 or 40 years ago, are increasingly at risk of deportation, a process that tears families apart and destroys lives on a daily basis. These individuals are citizens of the United States. They have no ties to the place where they were born; they have no family or friends there. The system is set up to work against them. There is no right of appeal. There is no such thing as due process.
Antonio is a tattoo artist who is down on his luck and currently resides in New Orleans. His background is a little shady. He used to be a member of a motorcycle thief gang, and he was convicted of a couple of felonies while on the run. He’s on the straight and narrow now, but his criminal record will be a major issue if and when he’s deported. Kathy (Alicia Vikander), a nurse, is his wife, and she is currently pregnant with their child. They are also the guardians of Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), Kathy’s previous relationship’s daughter from a previous marriage. Ace (Mark O’Brien), Jessie’s biological father, is a blue-eyed police officer who is enraged that his daughter is being “kept” away from him. In the course of a grocery store fight, Ace’s partner (Emory Cohen), playing the role of a buffoonish caricature of a “bad cop,” attacks Antonio and drags him off to the local ICE facility in an attempt to exact revenge on his friend.
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Once the process has begun, it is virtually impossible to stop it. There are no appeals because, after all, to whom would one appeal? ICE is intended to serve as a destination rather than a stopover. People vanish as soon as they fall under the control of ICE. Antonio was three years old when he was adopted by a family. He has no ties to the country of Korea. It turns out, however, that his adopted parents either failed to complete or failed to properly file his citizenship paperwork. He’s in a pickle. An attorney with a $5,000 retainer, played by the legendary Vondie Curtis-Hall, is depicted in the film. He is well-versed in dealing with such situations. His outlook does not appear to be optimistic. He is almost completely without solutions.
Blue Bayou Quiz
“Blue Bayou” is occasionally sunk by its own symbolism and the manner in which it employs those symbols. It’s not enough to simply display a symbol visually and wait for the audience to figure out what it means. A character must deliver a lengthy monologue in which they explain the symbol and pontificate on how the symbol is relevant to the situation. This occurs on a number of occasions. It’s a very heavy-handed approach. Through the film, Chon intersperses artistically-looking dreamy fragments, such as sudden flashes of an emerald lake glowing blue, a woman seen from below the water, and a flash of a face seen through a drizzly window. These sequences, in contrast to the majority of the rest of the film, should be far more compelling than they are, but they aren’t. Instead, they are self-conscious and superimposed, a pointless cinematic “flex” that could have been avoided.
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In the midst of all of this, Antonio meets and befriends Parker, a Vietnamese-American woman from the neighborhood (the wonderful Linh Dan Pham). Parker tries to court Antonio by inviting him to the monthly get-together at her house and by unexpectedly showing up at the tattoo parlor. As a result of Parker’s complicated issues, she finds herself in the territory of “manic pixie dream girl” territory, albeit of the middle-aged variety. The most basic description of her is that she is a magical being who keeps appearing at precisely the right moment, with ready-made monologues about flowers and roots and the fleur de lis, which she bestows upon Antonio, usually at sunset. In the midst of her crisis, she is completely available to this completely new person she just met the day before. Despite the fact that Pham’s work is exquisite, this relationship is the most clumsily constructed aspect of “Blue Bayou.” A heist is the second most contrived element in the story. Yes, there is a heist taking place. Antonio’s daring escape defies all logic and reason. It doesn’t make any sense when compared to the stark, sparse dialogue of the opening sequence.
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It is the family unit of Kathy, Jessie, and Antonio who is at the heart of this story, distraught over the dissolution of their happy home, overwhelmed and intimidated by the looming bureaucracy of the United States government, who doesn’t seem to care that Antonio is expecting a child, or that he has been a resident of this country for nearly four decades. Chon is open and present throughout the film, particularly in the scenes with Kowalske, and Vikander is at the top of her game.
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The uncompromising conclusion is far more effective than any flowery monologue or dreamy shots of hands floating through blue water. What follows is a heartbreaking list of deported children and their adoptive families. “Blue Bayou” understands that cruelty is the point of the story.
The film is currently showing in theaters.
For more personality quizzes check this: Lamb Of God The Concert Film Quiz.
