Blue Bayou

An angry, passionate film from writer-director and leading actor Justin Chon.

Multi-hyphenate Justin Chon has crafted an impressive melodrama, rich in Louisiana atmosphere and with a timely message, but Blue Bayou is marred by its reliance on symbolism and sentiment.

Chon's directing choices are bold and sometimes interesting, but the screenplay - a big old overcooked melodrama that chucks in everything from a motorcycle chase to a terminal cancer subplot - is an almighty mess.

If Chon had pared his own script back, laid off the pathetic fallacies and nudged away his influences ...we might have had the drama the awful truth deserves.

This is, without doubt, the most overstuffed, overwritten movie of 2021.

A documentary would have better served the real-life adoptees who face this issue.

Ultimately Blue Bayou is a tear-jerker, but the audience will be unsure when to shed their tears because there are just too many depressing moments.

An emotional roller coaster that is a bold directorial debut an another INCREDIBLE performance from Alicia Vikander. Truly one of the best actresses working right now. I overall dug the movie but every great piece there was something that frustrated me.

But when the positives are as good as they are here, the flaws take a backseat.

The themes that Blue Bayou are trying to tackle are compelling, and there’s really a great story in there somewhere. Unfortunately, that story isn’t what made it to screen.