‘Sunny Dancer,’ written and directed by George Jaques and starring Bella Ramsey, might be one of the most emotionally complex dramedies of the year.
On the surface, it’s a movie about a summer camp for kids with cancer, and it gives audiences exactly that: the boisterous spontaneity anyone would expect from a group of teenagers hanging out in the summer. Yet viewers must also carry, and look beyond, the dark shadow looming over them. The thought of “Will they all be back next summer?” lingered in the back of my mind from start to finish.
(Courtesy Sunny Dancer)
In many ways, this forces audiences to cherish every moment, because they never know when the other shoe will drop. It’s gut-wrenching, to say the least.
For Jaques, this story grew from a personal place. He tells The Knockturnal, “My mom got diagnosed with cancer when I was growing up, so I really wanted to tell the cancer story but do it really differently. I think I also wanted to make a film about joy and what it means to be young.”
The lead, Ivy, played by Bella Ramsey, embodies the complexities of youth. Ramsey has a reputation for playing intense, lovable, relatable characters, but this role truly sits in a category of its own. Her costar Neil Patrick Harris describes it as the first time he has seen Ramsey play a character who finds joy.
Harris plays Patrick, the camp’s counselor, a role that is different yet equally impactful. Patrick is the connective tissue between the outside world and the one within camp, Children Run Free (C.R.F.). He starts off as a fun-loving counselor, full of energy, then gradually becomes a parent-like figure to Ivy and her friends.
Harris tells The Knockturnal about taking on what he calls “an adult archetype,” and says the character fully embraces his position at C.R.F. by “creating the safe space while also being mindful of the singularity of each camper.” In a way, the role also forced Harris to step back and experience the extraordinary talent of the younger actors on set.
That was especially true of Ramsey. “To see them be so fun and vulnerable and honest and happy? I was enamored by their ability to shift between shock, surprise, and sadness, and anger, and things bubbling up and suppression all within a single take. It’s a real gift.”
Sonically, the film is just as powerful. This was the first time composers Este Haim and Zachary Dawes have made music for a film, and if they could describe the sound of Sunny Dancer, they say it would be “heartbreaking,” “brave,” and “emotional.” They worked hand in hand with Jaques, and the soundtrack works in perfect harmony with the film, fully encapsulating a world Jaques didn’t just create but understood.
Sunny Dancer never asks you to choose between laughing and grieving. It trusts you to do both, and that is exactly why it will stay with you long after the credits roll.
