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''Blue Bayou'' had its world premiere at the [[2021 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes Film Festival]] in July 13, 2021 and is scheduled to be released in the United States on September 17, 2021, by [[Focus Features]].
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Antonio LeBlanc is a [[Korean Americans|Korean American]] adopted immigrant and tattoo artist living outside [[New Orleans]] with his pregnant wife and rehabilitation nurse Kathy and her biological daughter Jesse. Due to his criminal record, he is unable to find additional employment to support his family, though Kathy offers to resume working to help make ends meet. After being physically harassed by [[New Orleans Police Department|NOPD]] officers Ace and Denny, the former being Jesse’s absent biological father Ace, Antonio resists them, and he is violently arrested. He is soon placed into ICE custody and faces deportation when it is revealed that his adoptive parents never [[Naturalization|naturalized]] him. Antonio and Kathy seek to appeal his deportation with the help of immigration lawyer Barry Boucher, who warns that if he is denied, he can never return to America again. He also informs them that he needs $5,000 for a retainer to begin representing them, which neither Antonio or Kathy have.
Resuming his life as he awaits his hearing, he strikes up a friendship with Parker, a Vietnamese refugee with terminal cancer who came to America with her father when she was a small child, whose mother died during the journey. After giving her a tattoo of a [[Fleur-de-lis]], she invites him and his family to a communal cookout at her home. Still unable to afford Barry’s services, Antonio and his friends resort to stealing several motorcycles and sell them, with Antonio nearly getting caught in the process. Antonio pays Barry, claiming that the money was from an advance at work, which Kathy finds suspicious. Barry tells Antonio that due to his criminal record and a lack of factors that would make his appeal favorable in front of a judge, his best chance at avoiding deportation is to seek the appearance and support from his adoptive mother, who is still alive despite Antonio’s earlier claims that she (along with his adoptive father) had died, something Kathy wasn’t aware of. Deeply hurt over this lack of disclosure and even more devastated by his refusal to contact her (due to her refusal to defend themselves against his physically-abusive adoptive father), she leaves with Jesse and moves in with her mom. Having begun to lose hope, Antonio severs his friendship with Parker. Meanwhile, Ace attempts to reconnect with Jesse, but she appears distrustful toward him and is backed-off by Kathy, who wants him to have no part in their lives.
Eventually, Antonio chooses to see his now-actually-widowed mother, who appears apathetic over her past inaction and is not willing to appear for his trial. Antonio reminds her of how he tried to take her with when he left home and that she chose to stay with her husband. He goes back home and is fired by his boss at the tattoo parlor due to unpaid debts. He then makes amends with Parker, whose cancer has gotten worse. Antonio confides, and as he takes her on a ride on his motorcycle, she falls unconscious and he takes her to the hospital. At the same time, Kathy gives birth to her's and Antonio’s daughter, and they reunite. On the day of Antonio’s hearing, Kathy, Jesse, a couple of Antonio’s friends, as well as Ace and Antonio’s mother, arrive to offer their support. Antonio, unbeknownst to them, is found on his way to the hearing and abducted by Denny and several of his friends, who viciously assault him in the woods and leave him for dead. Knowing that he's guaranteed to be deported, Antonio attempts to commit suicide by driving his motorcycle into the swamp and drown himself, but cannot being himself to do it. Meanwhile, Denny brags to Ace about assaulting Antonio and making him miss his hearing, and Ace, disgusted, chooses to arrest him.
After spending one last night in New Orleans by himself and saying his final goodbyes to his friends, Antonio is escorted by [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] to the airport to be deported to South Korea. Kathy and Jesse manage to locate him in security, intending to accompany him. They are also found by Ace, who wants to say his farewells to his daughter before she goes. Not wanting to displace his own family and not knowing where he'll be sent, he tells them to stay in America. Unable to let go of an inconsolable Jesse, Antonio is forcibly separated from her as she cries out for him as he is lead away.
Real-life cases of other adopted unnaturalized immigrants either facing deportation or have been deported are shown, along with the numbers of immigrants who face similar circumstances.
==Cast==
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