Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

He_who_lurks "The Very Eye of Night" was Deren's last complete film and is probably one of her weakest films as director. She started out with symbolic avant-garde shorts, but changed later to studies of the human body in motion. This is one of these and is more meant to be an art film than a symbolic narrative tale. Like the other reviewer, I too would like to say that Teiji Ito's music was great and kept the thing from becoming too dull.Yes, I know that in the past I've called her "Meditation on Violence" boring, but that was because the film was too long when I saw it silent. This film however, deserves a lower rating than that effort because there's a shorter version of this effort out there. In 1951, Deren made a much shorter, 6-minute film called "Ensemble for Somnambulists" which was apparently unfinished and features the exact same idea of filming dancers in negative and superimposing them onto a backdrop! Apparently, years later Deren looked at that film and thought, "now I'll make a longer version of that and get it released this time!" The results, however, are dull for anyone who isn't a Maya Deren or dance fanatic.That said, I still find this to be somewhat interesting. Unlike "Ensemble for Somnambulists" the images here are more sharp and look gorgeous. Maya Deren didn't really seem to know when enough was enough, but this movie still manages to be artistic and beautiful within its short (yet overlong) run-time.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "The Very Eye of Night" is one of Maya Deren's longer films at 15 minutes. It is also her last work as writer and director counting her known movies. She was 40 when this one was made here and unfortunately dead 3 years later already. There is not too much to this short movie. We see a starry sky early on and after this introduction ballet dancers appear in the sky. We do not really see their faces though as this one is probably mostly about the aesthetics of dancing and the figures they are presenting. Still Ihave to say this is not really that much content and even starts to drag a bit, even at 15 minutes. It does not get too interesting in the first place. I felt this film looks like it could have been 50 years older maybe, not only because of the black-and-white, but also because of how simple it is. Hands down, some movies from 1898 told more of a story. Really only worth a watch for ballet lovers.

Roman James Hoffman "The Very Eye of Night" is the final completed film of Maya Deren, the Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker, (underrated) film theorist, dancer, choreographer, and voodoo priestess whose life and work is the very embodiment of the "independent" ethic and who has consequently exerted a tremendous influence on both mainstream and avant-garde American cinema. A word of warning: Deren is best known for her debut film "Meshes in the Afternoon" (1943), a dream-logic feminist nightmare which owes a lot to surrealism (although she actively disputed the categorization) which these days finds a sympathetic interpretation among attendees of art-house cinemas and/or feminist university courses. And rightly so, as the film is incredible and easily sits among the best the avant-garde has to offer…however, as "The Very Eye of Night" comes some fifteen years later, after Deren has incorporated her love of dance into her films and explored the exotic rites of voodoo, those expecting anything along the lines of "Meshes…" are going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, we have a total absence of narrative and, like her earlier "Meditation on Violence" (1948), a film totally given over to dance – in this case ballet. However, while not exactly a fan of ballet, I nevertheless enjoyed the film due to the creative use of the negative print of the ballet dancers who seem to float through a starry sky giving the impression, less of a dream, and more of a transcendent out-of-body experience among the stars and watching ancient gods at play.A key characteristic of Deren's films has always been the creative use of simple camera tricks to spectacular effect: and this film is no different. Indeed, whereas her other films were resolutely earthy and material (albeit invariably with a dream-like ambiance) the totally other-worldly realm she creates in "The Very Eye of Night" with the double exposure and negative print is truly magical and could be seen as the culmination of her work. This said, like many, I find her earlier work (especially "At land" (1944) and "Ritual in Transfigured Time" (1946)) much more satisfying and "The Very Eye of Night", despite both the magical ambiance and the enchanting score from her third husband Teiji Ito, seemed to me to just fall a little bit on the side of boring after about the 10 minute mark. Yet, this aside, Deren's artistic vision cannot be doubted and the film stands as an appropriate final bow in the oeuvre of a true pioneer which should be seen by anyone interested in the work of this amazing woman.

madsagittarian Too many people short shrift the works of Maya Deren after her "trance" period, when she made films with her first husband Alexander Hammid. Because she changed her filming style entirely does not make her "wrong" for doing so. This, and MEDITATION ON VIOLENCE, are absorbing studies of movement and ritual. The premise of this delicate dream piece is simply a study of ballet movements shot from overhead, as a starry sky is superimposed over their actions. With sparse music by Deren's second husband Teiji Ito, this is a movie which defies filmic space. It is an entrancing piece which transcends the human body into a cosmic form of being. Thoughts to consider: was Teiji Ito the first "ambient" musician?