Sandy Wilson

Sandy Wilson’s My American Cousin is an endearing, semi-autobiographical tale centering on one golden summer in a precocious girl’s life. In 1959 British Columbia, 12-year-old Sandy (Margaret Langrick) lives on a gloriously scenic ranch populated with her family and a group of friends who help out on her father’s cherry orchard. It’s an idyllic setting, but the terminally bored pre-teen is histrionically unimpressed.

Ken Russell pictures have a way of sneaking up on you. Many a young and not-so-young filmgoers have experienced a kind of shocked dry heave of wonderment after their first, or even seventh, Ken Russell experience. I recall a young man for whom the joy of first seeing The Devils nearly induced an anxiety attack. Talking in tongues is not altogether unlikely, either.