Sunny Dancer, 2026.
Written and Directed by George Jaques.
Starring Bella Ramsey, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Ruby Stokes, Earl Cave, Conrad Khan, Jasmine Elcock, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Gunning, James Norton, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Louis Gaunt, Josie Walker, Joe Hughes, James Blunt, Barbara D’Alterio, Liz Ewing, Daisy Clarke, and Kat Murphy.
SYNOPSIS:
As if conquering cancer wasn’t hard enough, 17-year-old Ivy’s parents sign her up to spend her summer at what she calls “chemo camp”, where she manages to find unexpected friends in a group of misfits and has a summer she’ll never forget.
For some, resistance is the natural response to being encouraged to attend a specialty summer camp, usually because it’s lame or initially might feel more othering to withdraw from society into a circle of your own (therefore highlighting what makes one different from the rest) and because it will turn into a pity party of unwanted inspiration. Of course, when most people do actually get to camp, specialty or otherwise, they typically quickly make friends, have plenty of fun, are sad when it’s ending, and are ecstatic to return the following year. In writer/director George Jaques’ Sunny Dancer, the specialty is teenagers in remission from cancer, with Bella Ramsey’s Ivy mortified at what her no-filter parents (played by Jessica Gunning and James Norton) want to send her to, in the belief that it will do some good for both her lack of motivation to do anything and being “cancer-ghosted” by her friends.
This also could have easily turned into the most saccharine and cloying, worst version of itself, laser-focused on the very thing Ivy would barf at: corny inspiration and pity. Soon upon arriving at the Children Run Free Camp, which is headed up by Neil Patrick Harris’ well-intentioned Patrick – trying to provide such positive reinforcement while finding a balance between enforcing rules and understanding the traumatic pain these teenagers have been through to look the other way and let them have some fun – she endures a nauseating activity. It involves Ivy essentially cursing out an influencer who delivers a speakeasy on living life, accusing her of profiting off their grief. Upset by the hostility and unsure if Patrick can even keep her at the camp anymore, he also understands her perspective.
However, Ivy does quickly befriend her roommate, Ella (Ruby Stokes), a soon-to-be-18, cancer-free, horny virgin excited at the prospect of finally getting laid, with her eyes set on a camp counselor she has admired during her annual time at the camp, not realizing that there already is a boy interested. Despite these opposing personalities, Ivy also joins the larger friend group where, it turns out, most of these campers are more than cancer survivors, but regular teenagers doing normal things, whether it be smuggling in alcohol, running off after hours to swim in the lake, sneaking off the property to guilt-trip a nearby amusement park ticket taker to let them in where they get their faces painted, and exploring sexual and romantic desires they never had the chance to do before, whether it was the cancer or, even worse, not being wanted due to the illness and undergoing chemotherapy.
Credit Bella Ramsey with an outstanding performance, starting off confrontational and miserable, then gradually becoming swept up in an array of emotions as Ivy embraces the community, camp, and her relatable peers. Ruby Stokes is also a standout, spirited and almost impatiently eager to experiment intimately. However, everyone here delivers a fully convincing, lived-in performance, including Neil Patrick Harris in a role that could have been the archetypal goofy camp counselor but also carries an emotional undercurrent.
Sunny Dancer (a title derived from Ivy’s affinity for interpretive dance) observes these teenagers hanging out, letting the dynamics unfold without hurry. Part of this includes Ivy catching feelings for Jake (Daniel Quinn-Toye), who isn’t just in remission but also suffers from psychological disorders. That said, one keeps waiting for the film to force in unnecessary drama, like Ella turning against her new friend for potentially finding love before her, or something misguided that throws the narrative off-kilter. For the most part, that doesn’t happen, though the third act has some predictable sadness that makes logical sense but is handled clumsily and ends the film on a far too optimistic note. There is a case to be made that while attending this camp certainly helps Ivy, it leaves her with another type of trauma.
Part of not addressing this is because, as mentioned, George Jaques doesn’t want to reduce Sunny Dancer to sadness or define these characters strictly by cancer. This is evident in how much of it focuses on watching these characters spend a month here (broken into chapters by week), bonding, maturing, and partying. The film lets its teenagers behave like real teenagers and see them as more than cancer survivors, rediscovering their joy and zest for life in the wake of dealing with the latter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
