BLUE BAYOU (in theatres)

In the past year we have watched endlessly, refuges on our borders; bedraggled stragglers, parentless children, nameless souls straining for life within the confines of our democratic society; we have also witnessed those who have lived in the United States their whole lives, only to be ripped away from their families because of undocumented status; “Blue Bayou” is an intimate portrait of a man whose adoptive parents neglected to file the proper papers. Director, writer, actor Justin Chon with revelatory, perceptive empathy depicts tattoo artist “Antonio LeBlanc” as he nosedives through a flawed system; Chon gives a remarkable performance in tandem with Alicia Vikander (soaring with the lyrics of “Blue Bayou”) as his pregnant wife “Kathy” and stepdaughter “Jessie” (poignantly perfect Sydney Kowalske); without sensationalism, sentimentality, manipulation, the realistic thread of doomed desperation, boundless pain, frustration and accountability strikes a cord of authenticity; individuals of worth, living nondescript lives; Chon infuses dignity, notability, so deserving of habitation in our restrictive country.

With reverence to his Korean heritage Antonio is perpetually haunted by his mother who was incapable of tending to him; with a reference to the Biblical Moses, he surfaces from a watery demise. Compelling intimacy allows viewers an in-depth scrutiny of the catastrophic, unwarranted destructiveness that countless endure daily.

FOUR STARS!!!!

Peneflix