This was on a watchlist I had...then I took it OFF the watchlist and decided I wasn't going to waste time on it...then I stumbled across it on Tubi and decided _"What the hey...everything else I'm watching sucks; what's one more bad movie?"_

This is going to sound really weird but let me try to explain… First off, this film isn't for everyone. A lot - maybe even most - will find this dreadfully, painfully slow and boring...and for good reason. It moves at the speed of a glacier. Here's where I'm going to sound really confusing: As a movie, this thing sucked; as a viewing experience, however, I've had few that could surpass this. Seriously.

If you watch this expecting a good movie, chances are very high that you're going to be very disappointed, possibly even angry that you sat through this. The story is very disjointed, very open to interpretation, not at all "cut and dried", and like mentioned earlier, it moves at a snail's pace. It's AGONIZINGLY slow. I was eating dinner and taking my time, felt like I was probably around the halfway mark and paused it...only to discover I had only watched the first 25 minutes. I almost turned it off but I'm glad I didn't.

Again, as a "movie" this is (IMO) a total failure. There's no rhyme or reason to ANY of it; no backstory, no explanations, no NOTHING... it is all very open to interpretation. I didn't like the beginning, the middle, or the conclusion: it all just absolutely sucked. As a "viewing experience", however, I have to confess that this thing was positively engrossing; yes, there was hardly any dialogue (as I mentioned, there was no story really to build "dialogue" around) and the pacing was atrocious. But the cinematography, the musical score - or utter silence in some scenes - and the pure art of Aleksandra Cwen (as "Albrun") was enough to keep me mesmerized. I've never seen her (and probably never will) in anything else but here, she absolutely sparkled. Her facial expressions, her EYES, some of the most stoic, unemotional moments in cinema you'll ever experience...but here, you will do just that: EXPERIENCE it. She - and the film - draw you into their silent world and you feel surrounded by the emptiness, the despair, the loss of EVERYTHING. The scenes in "Act 3" (I guess that's what you'd call it? "Blood") were incredible and again, I have to tip my hat to Aleksandra Cwen as she walked in places (I'm speaking very literally now) that a lot of today's Hollywood spoiled divas would never deign to set their pampered pedi'd tootsies. The musical score (or, again, in many scenes, the utter silence) was pure art form as it only served to make the cinema that much darker, instead of trying to steal the scene.

There's little that can be said about the "acting" because there was so little of it, honestly. In my estimation, Aleksandra Cwen singlehandedly carried this film and got every bit of mileage she could eke out of it...and she did it in spectacular fashion.

I'm warning you now: If you go into this expecting to watch a "good horror movie", you're going to be frustrated and probably even mad at spending an hour and a half on this. There's no story...although I suppose the filmmakers can argue that there _was_ one and I just "didn't get it". And that may be the case. But am I disappointed that I watched it? Not on your life; it was beautiful cinema and well worth sitting through and I feel certain there was some kind of story that I just didn't get, but I enjoyed watching this anyway and yes, I might even consider watching it again.

Before you chalk me up as some hoity-toity snot-nosed artsy-fartsy "trying to find a beautiful story in everything", I should tell you to look at my viewing history: I watch a little of almost everything and very little (if any!) would be considered "artsy-fartsy". I don't get into those kind of films. And frankly, with _Hagazussa_ being so open to interpretation, I was considerably disappointed and put off...but it was still great viewing and I'm frankly glad that I sat through it. I would recommend it only to those who truly enjoy good cinema, and don't need a black-and-white "story" in everything they watch.