Sunny Dancer – Film Review

Director – George Jaques
Writer – George Jaques
Stars – James Norton, Daniel Quinn Toye, Bella Ramsey

Ivy (Bella Ramsey) presents initially as a typical self-absorbed, bolshie teenager. But she has a certain right as she seethes in her bedroom. She is, at her tender age, a survivor having undergone chemotherapy for cancer. Her parents, Karen (Jessica Gunning) and Bob (James Norton), are concerned about how withdrawn she has become and arrange for her to attend a summer holiday camp in the Scottish Highlands for teenagers, “Children Run Free”, who are survivors of chemotherapy. Her reaction is hostile. She is not interested in their “Chemo-camp”. However, they insist, and they drive her to the camp. The relentlessly upbeat welcoming address by Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris), the camp director, suitably clad in khaki shorts, would appear to provide justification for Ivy’s reservations.

Ivy shares a room with Ella (Ruby Stokes), who is outgoing and has a crush on Tristan (Louis Gaunt), a 20-something-year-old member of the staff. Ella has already made friends with Maisie (Jasmine Elcock), Archie (Conrad Khan), Ralph (Earl Cave) and Jake (Daniel Quinn Toye), and Ivy becomes, to an extent, involved in Ella’s gang. But Ivy remains distant, and she lashes out at a visiting influencer who is there to give them a pep talk. This results in her having a one-to-one chat with Patrick, who reveals himself to be a more complex individual than he seemed in his welcoming address. A corner has been turned, and Ivy becomes less reclusive and gradually participates enthusiastically with Ella, Maisie, Archie, Ralph and Jake in their various jaunts at the Chemo-camp. At this stage it might appear that this story is to have a “they-all-live-happily-ever-after” ending, but it is not to be, with an unexpected twist.

Bella Ramsey (star of The Last of Us and Game of Thrones, who uses pronouns they/ them) moves convincingly, in an impressive performance, from being a bolshie teenager to being a more complex human being trying to find herself. In this task, Bella is well supported by Stokes, Elcock, Khan, Quinn and Toye. They become a happy band of warriors as they go on their daily adventures. But the most substantial relationship is that which Ivy makes with Patrick, who helps Ivy to find herself as he explains some of the challenges he has faced. The appearances of Harris are comparatively few, but he brings to the character of Patrick far more insight than seemed imaginable initially. He does so in an understated manner, but that does not diminish its effect. Ramsey and Harris both excel.

In one sense, the film is predictable in that the six individuals in Ella’s gang are 3 boys and 3 girls and therefore the plot is planted firmly within the heterosexual norm. Maybe that is the correct editorial choice given that each of the six has enough issues already as teenagers who have survived cancer. Perhaps adding further diversity would have weakened the central theme, which is Ivy moving from being on the outside of society to somewhere not as remote and where she can thrive.

This is an unusual coming-of-age story. Setting it in a summer camp for young people who have survived cancer introduced this reviewer to uncharted territory. Therefore, a second viewing would undoubtedly be of benefit. It is a world which exists in its own quiet way, largely out of sight. Certainly, the quality of the acting of the entire cast deserves considerable praise.