The Reel Review
Ivy, a 17-year-old leukemia survivor, begrudgingly attends a month-long summer camp for other cancer survivors, discovering an unexpected community and learning some valuable life lessons in the process. Bella Ramsey, Neil Patrick Harris, Ruby Stokes and Daniel Quinn Toye star in this British coming-of-age dramedy.
Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) gives a stellar performance in Sunny Dancer, blending sharp gallows humor with genuine emotion alongside an impressive ensemble supporting cast of campers and counselors, which elevates the corny, twee and often very predictable trope-filled tearjerker from writer/director George Jaques (Black Dog). A terrific Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and James Norton (Nowhere Special, Mr. Jones) appear as Ivy’s parents.
Although the clumsy story is at times a bit uneven and has a jarring ending that feels like an out-of-left-field gut punch after such a sweet build-up, Sunny Dancer is refreshing in its unconventionality, a film that will likely stay with you after the credits roll. Bring tissues.
REEL FACTS
• Sunny Dancer writer/director George Jaques is also an actor, appearing in the TV dramas The Serpent Queen and A Town Called Malice. He is an ambassador for Teenage Cancer Trust, which helps young people in the U.K. who have cancer.
• A famous British entertainer appears in the finale, saying he donated his time (and hit song) for free to help independent film.
• Sunny Dancer was filmed in Loch Lomand, Scotland.
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