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Justin Chon did a great job with this one. It's not often you get a director/writer/lead actor in a movie but he did all of those and it was all very well done. The story is poignant, quite incredible that something like this is even possible in real life, but it is sadly the reality, and that in a country that wants to be the example for the rest of the world. To be honest I found this incredibly sad, and that in the land of the free, in the land of opportunities. Justin Chon is not only a good writer but he was also very convincing in his role as the American-Korean. The rest of the cast were also very good playing their respective characters, especially the young Sydney Kowalske. She played very natural, almost like she wasn't acting, and that's not given to a lot of child actors. Blue Bayou isn't a movie that will leave you with a smile, and that's good, because these kind of stories are still happening now, and a smile would just be wrong when you think about all the lives that have been destroyed.

His biggest film yet in a career that still feels as though its only just beginning, actor, Youtuber and director Justin Chon delivers his biggest project yet in the form of the New Orleans set immigration themed drama Blue Bayou, a familiar feeling character drama that is nevertheless an effective and emotionally engaging experience with great performances from the multi-tasking Chon and the radiant Alicia Vikander.

Perhaps most well known in popular culture as Eric from the Twilight saga, Korean blooded Chon delivers a heartbreaking performance as down on his luck tattoo artist, one time felon and family man Antonio LeBlanc, who finds his workmanlike life turned on its head when he faces the possibility of being deported from the United States after a run in with the law and a discovery that his adoptive American parents never filed the correct paperwork to legally declare him an American citizen.

Based around some confronting home truths occurring in the United States in this present day when it comes to their dealings with long term citizens but not legally recognized ones, Bayou hits fairly hard when its stars align and the chemistry between Chon and Vikander as his long suffering but devoted wife Kathy and her daughter Jessie (a nice turn from young actress Sydney Kowalske) ensures that this intimate and raw humanly centered drama makes for some of 2021's most touching moments as the LeBlanc's try their best to keep their heads above water with the past and present converging to hold them under.

Shot in a documentary like manner, with Chon keeping things focused tight on his films subjects on most occasions throughout, Bayou never feels Hollywoodized or materialistic and even while it has a few too many narrative devices that don't feel fully formed or too convenient for dramatic tension, the performances and honesty on show here will keep willing audiences involved throughout its entirety.

As an added bonus to the film itself, its reliving too see the talented Vikander as good she's been in years, with a rough period of recent times that includes the likes of Beckett, Earthquake Bird, Jason Bourne and Tulip Fever all failing to make a mark or give material worthy to the talented performer who shone so bright in the likes of Ex Machina and The Light Between Oceans, Vikander's performance here in Chon's tale is a stern reminder that she's one of the best working in the industry today when picking the right projects.

Final Say -

It doesn't rewrite the dramatic rulebook and follow's a fairly well-worn path too its emotional climax but Blue Bayou signals both a return to form for Alicia Vikander and an official announcing of Chon as a filmmaker to get excited about.

4 sausages out of 5.

For more reviews check out Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

"Blue Bayou" (2021 release; 116 min.) brings the story of Antonio Leblanc. As the movie opens, Antonio is interviewing for a job and turned down. From the interview we learn that he was born in Korea and adopted at a young age by a family in Louisiana. Antonio is married to Kathy, who is highly pregnant with the couple's first child (Kathy has a young daughter Jessie from a prior marriage). Kathy's ex is a New Orleans cop. One day, he and another cop harass Kathy and end up viciously beating and arresting Antonio, who before we understand what is happening is facing deportation to Korea... At this point we are 15 min into the film but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing exprience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this film is a labor of love from leading actor/writer/producer/director Justin Chon. Here he brings a fictional story (loosely based on actual facts) of how an adopted person who has lived in the US for decades still may face deportation, and faster than you may think is possible. What exactly causes this to happen is the crux of the entire film so I'm not going into details about this. The movie benefits enormously from the heartfelt performances of Justin Chon (as Antonio), newcomer Sydney Kowalske as 5 yr. Old Jessie and lst but certainly not least Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander ("The Danish Girl"), pretty much unrecognizable as Kristy (it wasn't until the end credits rolled that I realized it was indeed Vikander). These performances carry the film. That doesn't mean that the film is flawless: the script is at times uneven. And the camera work contains far too many extreme closeups and handheld footage. And yes, the movie does contain the classic title track song, but not by Roy Orbison or by Linda Ronstadt. Instead we hear it covered by... Alicia Vikander! Yes, not only is she a top actress and stunningly beautiful, but she can also sing. Oh yes, she can!

"Blue Bayou" premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival to positive acclaim, and the film opened in select theaters in late September. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at my local arthouse theater here in Cincinnati was attended so-so (7 people in total, including myself). Regardless, if you are in the mood for a heavy duty family drama that is likely to raise the hairs on your arms, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

A free preview pass and Alicia Vikander attracted me to the movies this evening. The intense acting and generally good filmcraft are strengths. The regional accents and a certain performance of the namesake song are standouts. But there are diverging subplots all over the place, detracting from the main theme. Sometimes the characters do not ring true and are otherwise too unsympathetic.

This was made expressly to champion the cause of international adoptees who become deportable because their stateside adopting parents failed to satisfy all the formalities. Their plight is akin to that of the Dreamers. The film comes just when a "fix" in the form of the proposed Adoptee Citizenship Act is pending. To get that enacted is indeed a worthy cause.

Instant reaction here. Was blown away by this movie. Not overly familiar with Justin Chon but his performance was exceptional and seeing he also wrote and directed this makes me excited for whatever projects he's involved with in the future. Alicia Vikander was solid as always great casting and most importantly the movie raises awareness to an issue most people were likely unaware of. Bravo!

Not usually the sort of film I might watch but there was something about it that it would be good. And it was almost as soon it started that I knew what was going to happen, and it did but there are up and downs, sad and happy moments but rather splendid. I was surprised that the director, Justin Chon, was outstanding, even if his water scenes are rather arty, he was so good most of the time and rather good with the actors, especially with the young girl, Sydney Kowalske, was wonderful. He also did the writing which is fine and of course was the star and also great. Also very much liked Alicia Vikander and thought she was rather impressive. I noticed later that she was married to Michael Fassbender and she had been the star quite amazing in Ex-Machina (2014) by Alex Garland.

Blue Bayou written and directed by Justin Chon is a powerful new film about a Korean-American, Antonio LeBlanc, played by Justin Chon, who is fighting for his family and his status as a US citizen.

Adopted from Korea at the age of 3, Antonio lives in Louisiana. He speaks fluid English. He is married to a US citizen, and he and his wife are expecting their first child. He is a stepfather to Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), the daughter of his wife, Kathy, played by Alicia Vikander, who calls him daddy.

Victim of racial profiling by a police officer, he is arrested and then his immigration status is called into question. Kathy and Antonio seek the counsel of a lawyer, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall, who informs them that before the year 2000, US foreign adoption laws were very ill defined, and in many cases immigration paperwork was never filed by adopting parents. In Antonio's case, his adopting family abandoned him after 6 months and he bounced around in foster care for much of his young life after coming to the US.

The film was a powerful representation of the uncertainty and difficulty many immigrants face in the US. It was both deeply saddening and moving as you watch the turmoil the family endures, especially the child affected by it all. The film brings awareness to an important issue that has yet to be addressed and has been the cause of many, many deportations of adults who have lived in the US for 30 to 40 years and some times longer, do not even know the language of their country of origin, who are deported to this foreign land without any family connections or similar ties to the country they are being sent.

Blue Bayou is an official selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film contains some beautiful cinematography of the Louisiana bayou and breathtaking sunset shots taken around New Orleans. The screenplay also stood out in the way that he portrayed both the struggle and impossible choices the protagonist faces. Also, his own identity as an Asian American, looking for his past and a cultural touchstone and comparing it to the over thirty years he spent in Louisiana feeling like an outcast as the "other."

Very unique storyline & very surprise there are real cases like this happening now. Great awareness.

However, didn't quite understand the Parker's role? Instead of creating this role who is not so related to the main storyline, I wish there are more detail or depth of what happens after he goes back to Korea & how he continues to fight this case.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was very emotional and moving. Definitely one of the best dramas I've watched this year. Hats off to Justin Chon for making an amazing film. 8 stars.

Blue Bayou is devastating throughout, depicting not only the main struggle of the film but of other social issues. Everyone in the cast does a great job, and Sydney Kowalske is often the star of the show. However, at times the script feels unpolished, and the amount of close-ups of an actor's face became nearly unbearable by the end.

What a beautiful and poignant story. The characters are real, tugs at the heartstrings and lays bare the total lack off empathy in the modern immigration processes. The fact that it depicts real life anguish makes this film signifficant. I really hope it can pass it's message to millions and help to tear down the wall.

2 out of 5 stars.

Blue Bayou is a boring drama film that is based on real events with adoptees getting deported back to there countries. The story is gripping. The acting from the two leads is okay. The direction is kind of boring and dull.

This movie is a work of writer-director Justin Chon, American-born of Korean parents. As the end credits show there are thousands of adoptees here from foreign birth that have grown up here yet are subject to possible deportation. It is a feature of the USA immigration laws. His goal was to raise the awareness.

This fictional story is set and filmed in the New Orleans area, much of it on the West bank area known as Algiers. Chon plays a character that was born in Korea and when he was three adopted by a American parents. Yet in spite of growing up her and now being husband and father gets into a scuffle with a dishonest cop and becomes threatened with deportation. Vikander plays his wife.

The story gets a bit complicated but overall is well made and interesting. Viewed at home on DVD from my public library.

I was the only one in my theater to see this film! I really enjoyed it! It could get a little melodramatic here and there. And the camera movement was a little weird sometimes. Sometimes I just wanted them to pull back instead of being so close up haha and let us see the entire scene. Particularly in a really good scene like the Vietnamese barbecue scene. I really wanted to see more of that and be around it more. Which I think Antonio (Justin's character) did too! Props to Justin and Alicia for being so great in their roles as a believable married couple! They worked so well off each other. Not to mention I really believed they were who they were portraying. Like, nothing seemed forced or out of place or miscasted. The little girl who played their daughter Jessie was a little stale, but I think this was her first role so that is understandable. Shout out to Linh Dan Pham as the incredible character of Parker who kind of helps Antonio reconnect with his identity in a way. I'm so glad Justin wrote in that character even though she could have easily been left out. I think this film could have been a court drama but I'm glad it wasn't. Instead it was a real character driven story that focused on the people. I really like Justin's work. From Gook to Blue Bayou! He's only getting stronger and stronger! I'll keep following him and his career. Oh, yeah someone get him a Oscar or something because wow can he act! Never thought I'd ever meet a Korean adoptee who was born and raised in Louisiana and has an accent and all. And here we are with Antonio Leblanc and I believed every single second of it! Props to this guy. I would say give Alicia one too but Alicia already has an Academy award haha!! It was just great to watch two great actors together. I give this movie a solid six because of the melodrama it sometimes slips into. But other than that it is a film worth watching!!

This is a nice emotional family drama. Its story is beautiful, real, sad, and heartbreaking. It also tackles an important topic and spreads awareness about a serious issue. My only issue with it is that it has many subplots that makes it a bit distant and messy sometimes. Performances are solid by both Chon and Vikander.

ICE ICE baby...

A drama written, directed, produced, and acted by Justin Chon about a Korean immigrant facing deportation.

The first hour and a half of this movie was very solid. For the most part I enjoyed the acting, which were raw and strong. The relationship between the main character and his stepdaughter was endearing. There's a subplot of him and a Vietnamese family that was also investing. The drama was solid, and brought up an important theme about another side of immigration and deportation that surprised me.

However, like a soccer player with amazing dribbling skill but terrible finishing shot that always miss the goal, the last 20 minutes of this movie became messy and ruined its great buildup. I felt like I just skipped a part of this movie, because some side characters turned sides in a snap. Because of this, the ending lost a lot of the emotional impact.

I loved that the script included the Vietnamese into the movie, but then I became perplexed, and honestly a bit annoyed, at how this subplot was meant only as a tool to add to the message. The Vietnamese characters had almost no relevancy to the plot. It was as if Justin forced himself to include the Vietnamese because both the Korean and Vietnamese went through wars that led to mass immigration.

Overall, a potentially impactful movie, but ruined by its forcing and questionable plot. 6.5/10.

Alicia Vikander is the biggest name of this movie by far, BUT she is not at ll the highlight here, as Justin Chon is just slashing it!

This movie shows us what is wrong with immigration politics in the USA and I knew that these cases exist, but not how common they actually are.

You will follow a heartbreaking story that will probably not leave your eyes dry. I havent seen a movie like this in a long time, where I literally could hear the majority of the people around me in the theatre cry, no matter which age, gender or race... This movie is very touching, even though at times it gets a bit "toooo much" and is slightly over the top, especially in the last wuarter of the movie.

That being said, it is still a very strong movie that tells a heartfelt story that has so much poetry between the lines, that it will make you appreciate your life and everything you have, even more, while still making you very depressed with its brutal honesty and depiction of events.

I can recommend this, especially if you are adopted yourself or are an expat of any kind in another country!

A visceral and cinematic peek into the absurd and cruel deportation policy in the USA with regards to adopted children. Justin Chon and Alicia Vikander are superb as the central married couple who are being torn apart by the barbaric system. This is a small gem.

Well written, performed and directed movie!! Blue Bayou is one those movies that catch you for the simplicity, humility and empathy of a well written story. It shows ordinary people that suffer for the consequences of poor justice, political games and a bureaucratic system.

The last scene has one of the most powerful and strongest images of love I've seen in movies.

This is a MUST see movie.

"Listen to him, look at him. He's American."

As a Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make a life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home. Blue Bayou hit some fall festivals, mainly because of its release shortly after them, but there was definite potential in creating a touching story. Justin Chon has worked his way up from playing Eric in Twilight and is now a filmmaker himself with a few films already. This is his most personal yet from what I've been told and I can understand why. It's one of those movies that covers an issue needing attention with stats right before the credits roll. As important of a topic this is, the movie falls into tropes of an overly dramatic feature we've seen in variations. Let me start out by saying a Justin Chon has potential as a filmmaker. The direction may not be spot on and the same goes for the writing, but he has an eye on what he wanted to invoke. The way it's shot is honestly what carries the whole thing. With it being shot on film, there's an automatic home movie feel to it that puts us right in the spot of the characters. And the cinematography is some of the best we've seen this year. The visuals are rich with color and it's warm to look at. I have but one complaint and that's that the handheld cam can get a little too shaky where it feels like we're watching a scene out of Cloverfield.

The acting is really good from Justin Chon and Alicia Vikander. He goes for it giving his best performance yet, though Vikander stole the show for me. Maybe this is because of his character. I wanted to like him and I did to begin with. But as we learn more about him and see his true persona it can be difficult to like or connect with. There are bad decisions made that we know are what make him flawed, but since there's hardly any work to fix them, I didn't care too much for him as it went along. I wanted the overall outcome to be ok for him and his family, but it's difficult to like after some time. There's a character introduced that ends up being a bigger part. Linh Dah Pham does great with her, but her character didn't feel relevant other than a deeper meaning that was supposed to bring out more character. Most of the characters aren't written as well as they should be. What really annoyed me was the classic racist cop. He's an awful character as he should be and a necessary part, but all the dialogue given and how he is written just isn't that good. Since it falls into many tropes, you kind of have to get used to it after a while. There are scenes, mainly the end, where the music swells so loud to get at your emotions. It was a little overkill, but the music is good. And going back to the end, as abrupt as it may be I could understand and get behind it. Blue Bayou needed to find its voice a little more to make a grounded story. It's not bad, but it's another movie this September (and we've had multiple so far) that should've been better. It's alright but not one that I see myself revisiting for years.

The storyline is ok, but the execution is really bad. It doesn't generate any sympathy for the main characters, sometimes it does exactly the opposite.

There are many pseudo-artistic shots and moments that look amateurish. This is not a good movie, it's a waste of 2 hours. Simple as that.