Blue Bayou is an American indie Family Drama film written and directed by Justin Chon, who also stars in the lead role. It is based around the real-life problem of children adopted by Americans and raised in the United States who face deportation due to their parents never naturalizing themnote .
It is set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, and focuses on adopted Korean-American Antonio LeBlanc (Chon). Antonio is a tattoo artist who lives with his white American wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and her daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske). Kathy is pregnant, and the two struggle to make ends meet, especially because Antonio's criminal record makes it difficult for him to find work.
Following an incident involving Jessie's father Ace (Mark O Brien), a member of the NOPD, Antonio is found to be an illegal immigrant facing deportation despite having been raised in the United States. The couple enlists the services of immigration lawyer Barry Boucher (Vondie Curtis-Hall) to fight the ruling, but he informs them that Antonio's chances are slim. As he faces the ghosts of his past in the lead-up to his hearing, Antonio strikes up a friendship with a dying Vietnamese woman, Parker (Linh Dan Pham).
The film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival before being released in the United States in September 2021.
Not to be confused with the animated short film Blue Bayou, released as part of Make Mine Music in 1946.
Tropes:
- Baldness Means Sickness: It was previously hinted that Parker was ill because Antonio meets her at a hospital, but it becomes starkly clear after she takes off her wig to reveal patchy baldness. She is later confirmed to be dying of cancer.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Parker falling unconscious on Antonio and dying shortly after happens at the same time as (and is juxtaposed with) Kathy giving birth to Antonio's daughter.
- Book Ends: The film starts and ends with the Korean lullaby "Ja Jang Uri".
- Diabolus ex Machina: Invoked. Denny beats up Antonio to make sure he won't arrive to his hearing. The people at the hearing don't care that Antonio is in the hospital and sentence him to extradition in absentia.
- Everyone Has Standards: Ace might be a terrible father who tries to keep in contact with his daughter through all the wrong ways, but he is disgusted by how his partner Denny assaulted Antonio to make him miss his hearing and get deported. Ace arrests him and turns up to Antonio's deportation, not to harass anyone but to say goodbye to his daughter.
- Foster Kid: Antonio mentions that his 'adoptive' parents gave him up after six months, and he bounced from foster home to foster home before eventually ending up at one that was abusive.
- Flower Motifs: The lily. Parker gets a Fleur-de-lis tattoo, a symbol of Louisiana, and notes that lilies were her deceased mother's favorite flower. It is also (incorrectly) conflated with the water lily, an especially common flower in Parker's native Vietnam, which she considers a symbol of resilience.
- Foil: Parker is a contrast to Antonio. In contrast to the poor, scruffy illegal immigrant Antonio, Parker is an elegant woman with a big, loving family who obtained citizenship through refugee status. However, the two bond over how they're both running out of time, as well as their shared Asian-American backgrounds.
- The Illegal: The central conflict is that Antonio was never naturalized as a citizen despite being in the United States since age three, and is now facing deportation.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: Antonio's young stepdaughter Jessie by his pregnant wife Kathy adores him and worries that he will love his biological daughter more than he loves her. Antonio makes it very clear that he loves her as much as one can love their child.
- Interracial Adoption Struggles: Antonio was adopted from Korea as a toddler by a white American family who never bothered to file citizenship for him and gave him up soon after the adoption. After being violently harassed by the white ex of his girlfriend, Antonio is threatened with deportation. The film was based around many true stories of international adoptees who share Antonio's fate and their stories are shown as the film ends.
- Offing the Offspring: Antonio was an unwanted pregnancy, and his mother tried to drown him as a baby. She couldn't go through with it and gives him up for adoption instead.
- Oppressive Immigration Enforcement: All of the tragedy of the film occurs because Antonio LeBlanc, who has lived in the United States of America since he was three years old when he was adopted, is discovered to have never been registered as a citizen and is facing extradition. He and his family try to fight it, but their lawyer tells them that his chances are extremely low and that is without counting Denny, a bigoted New Orleans Police officer, beating the everliving crap out of Antonio on the day of his hearing, so he is unable to arrive and is sentenced for extradition in absentia. The immigration officers even rip Antonio away from his baby daughter when they say each other goodbye at the airport. The only reed of hope he has left in the end is the possibility he will be able to file for citizenship in the future because of his family.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Parker is dying of cancer while her elderly father still lives. It's implied that he's accepted it and prioritizes making her happy.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Despite all the protagonists' efforts, the film ends with Antonio nearly killing himself and being deported, including being forcibly separated from his daughter at the airport. He doesn't know where exactly he'll end up. However, Antonio and Kathy reaffirm their love for each other, and their legal marriage means they have the opportunity to reunite sometime in the future.
- Titled After the Song: The film takes its title from the song "Blue Bayou", originally recorded by Roy Orbison. Kathy performs it at a party, and the lyrics (about a man who has left his loved ones behind in Blue Bayou and wants to return) echo her husband's situation.
