BLUE BAYOU
starring
JUSTIN CHON
ALICIA VIKANDER
SYDNEY KOWASLKE
In 2021's BLUE BAYOU, a Korean-American raised in the Louisiana bayou wrestles with trouble from his past and present, all while waiting to learn whether or not he will be deported from America.
Absolutely loved the trailer for this one. Check it out here on Youtube.
Watched it on TV through HBO MAX. I watch so many movies on my phone or laptop that it's quite nice to sit back and watch something cinematic on a much bigger screen.
Anyway, you don't see a lot of Western movies with Asian leads--especially poor ones at that. Last movie with prominent Asian actors I can think of is CRAZY RICH ASIANS. I know there's another one out about multiverses or something but I couldn't sit through fifteen minutes of that one.
In BLUE BAYOU, you got Korean guy in his early 30s--Antonio LeBlanc. Justin Chon, the actor, does a great job depicting a man who looks Asian but sounds very much like someone from the Bayou. Just the name, Antonio LeBlanc, sounds like a white guy from a show like HBO's TRUE BLOOD. In the film, Antonio is a tattoo artist with a criminal record for stealing motorcycles. This is a man not exactly at the top of socio-economic hierarchy but he is married, has an extremely heartfelt relationship with his stepdaughter, and is about to have another girl on the way with his wife--played by Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander from movies like --EX MACHINA, SON OF A GUN, THE DANISH GIRL, JASON BOURNE, TOMB RAIDER, THE GREEN KNIGHT. Child actress Sydney does a superb job as Antonio's stepdaughter Jessie and many of her scenes are the most powerful in the movie. She calls him, Daddy, and refuses to see her biological father out of love for the man who raised her and shows her nothing but love, Antonio LeBlanc. There is a nice juxtaposition of Antonio as a poor, Asian, motorcycle-stealing, tattoo artist and Jessie's birth father--a less poor, white, Southern police officer. Various forces come into play, some surprising and not so surprising turns, and I enjoyed the ride I was taken on with these characters struggles.
The film's main conflict apparently revolves around American laws that make it legal to deport adults who were improperly adopted, no matter how long they've lived and worked in the states. I was not aware of this but that sounds awful--to live and work and have family and friends in a place you've spent decades adapting or growing up in, and then being sent back to a homeland that's basically an alien planet to you.
BLUE BAYOU gets a B+ for giving me some serious feels. This movie slowly drew me in and just kicked me right in the heart at the end in a very good way.
Sources
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That is a big trouble that US government created. THe deportation of adults that are there since kids, good that movie brings that
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Yeah I didn't know that happened. It's always nice to watch a movie and learn something new