Meditation on Violence
Where to watch in the United States: Free: Kanopy. Streaming data from JustWatch via TMDB; availability changes.
Cast
Credits
Written by: Chao Li Chi 
Maya Deren
Cinematography: Maya Deren
Music: Teiji Itô
Plot
Chao-Li Chi shadow boxes indoors and practices with a sword outdoors. Theoretically, the film describes in a single continuous movement three degrees of traditional Chinese boxing, Wu-tang, Shao-lin, and Shao-lin with a sword.
Sinekatalog’s take
A short, hypnotic study of martial-arts movement, treating combat as ritual and dance. The rhythmic editing is the draw. Of interest to fans of experimental dance films.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 5.9 / 10 (1,213 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
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