My Sister, My Love

My Sister, My Love (1978)

Genres - Mystery, Thriller  |   Sub-Genres - Family Drama, Psychological Drama  |   Run Time - 102 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - R
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Review by Brian J. Dillard

The many, many titles under which this oddball psychodrama are known -- Deviation, Don't Ring the Doorbell, and My Sister, My Lover, to name a few -- show some indication of The Mafu Cage's taboo subject matter. What they don't indicate is just how downright weird this simultaneously shrill and stylized picture is. The lone screenwriting credit of Don Chastain (like director Karen Arthur, another former actor), the film is one of the few to let Carol Kane play a character who's as freaky as her unmistakable voice. Digging naked in the dirt, bludgeoning apes, seducing her sister, and sleeping in a grass hammock, Kane goes deep into the role of Cissy Carpenter and rarely comes up for air. Meanwhile, classy Lee Grant's neurotically protective older sister character seems sane by default even when she's having zipless sex with her dumpy co-worker and accepting sensual massages from her obviously insane sibling. Impressionistic and off-kilter to say the least, The Mafu Cage is almost difficult to watch unless one gives over completely to the absurdity of it all. Laden with symbolism, production-designed to the hilt, and completely off its conceptual rocker, this stinker's nevertheless distinctive enough to deserve its small but devoted cult following.