Belatedly opening Stateside after proving a domestic hit in 2024, Emmanuel Courcol's film succumbs to formula, but is lifted by its precise construction and strong lead performances.
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Courtesy of Playtime “The Marching Band” blasts through more story in its first 12 minutes than many films now manage in two hours. In those first 720 seconds we meet Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe), a well-heeled classical music conductor in Paris, who discovers that he will need to find a blood marrow transplant as he has leukemia; he learns that his sister is not a match, as he was adopted; he then discovers a biological brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), who was not adopted and still lives in a disadvantaged working-class community in the north of France; he asks his new-found brother to help him, and Jimmy accepts. That concision is evident in an almost brutally economical edit and in sharp, precise writing which provides narrative elements and deftly sketches character before moving busily on. Just as a marching band keeps time with its feet, so “The Marching Band” strides on, hitting the requisite notes and paying attention to the melody, sure, but especially making sure to hold the beat and keep the show on the road. This attention to rhythm helps director Emmanuel Courcol‘s film to stay true as it navigates some rather rocky terrain, for it is at once a mismatched buddy movie, a socially conscious crowdpleaser in the vein of, say, “The Full Monty,” and a sophisticated psychological drama à la française.
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