More Like a Mellow-drama

A Brief Comment on Emmanuel Courcol’s film, “The Marching Band”
by John Bennison, Mountain Shadow Director

The road is long,
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where, who knows where
But I’m strong,
Strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”
The Hollies, 1969

With the quote above – which may, or may not, be familiar to you -- perhaps I’m showing my age. Or better, perhaps, let’s just say I’ve mellowed a bit; where that particular word (mellow) can be defined as “softened and matured by experience over the years.”

But that word can also be distinguished from a similar word, “melo-drama; which is typically used to describe a story in which the characters display more exaggerated expressions of emotions than is typically the case in “real” life.

Mountain Shadow viewers may recall the French film, “Peaceful,” which we screened in the Summer of 2022. Starring Catherine DeNeuve. It was a well-received drama, in which there was nothing funny about it. When cinema successfully combines both comic and dramatic genres in one film – as is the case with “The Marching Band,” -- I’d suggest the result could be considered a comic, tender hearted and authentic mellow-drama. jb