My American Cousin

“Dear Diary. Nothing Ever Happens.” Sandy Wilcox (Margaret Langrick) longs for adventure and a modicum of respect. Neither is readily available to a 12-year-old growing up in rural Penticton in the late 1950s. Enter Butch in a screaming red Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. He’s 16 going on James Dean, a California runaway and about the most exciting thing to hit town since rock-n-roll.

Sandy Wilson’s first feature — 40 years young — is a genuine Canadian coming-of-age classic. With its lovely shots of the Okanagan valley, it evokes a heartfelt nostalgia for a more innocent time, while also capturing that adolescent restlessness that yearns for energy and change. Do these competing characteristics also stand for Canada and the US of A? Let’s just say the movie speaks gently to the present discord.

Q&A with director Sandy Wilson

A little gem, offering a look back to a particular time and place not only with boundless amusement and affection but with exceptional clarity and subtlety. This is nostalgia at its most endearing and admirable. […] My American Cousin is a an expression of pure, innocent joy recollected with thoughtful perception and saved from sentimentality by a witty, running commentary on Canadian American relations and attitudes.

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

In Partnership with