I loved how this film told its story in a subtle and gradual way. It's definitely a film that's both by and for adults.
You've seen Guy Standeven in something because the man was in everything.

Strangely, my experience was the opposite - I liked the first half immensely, but the second half a bit less.

What a beautiful way to describe it! That's exactly the power this film has over me today. I must have seen it over 20 times by now, but every single time I watch it pulls me back into its hypnotic, unsettling atmosphere. It's almost like a too real of a documentary which disturbingly encompassed the exact time and place in history.

I remember finding the film a bit dry, or dull, on first watch (had seen and adored Parallax, too) but found myself drawn back to it, appreciating more and more each time; and by now its one of the most compulsively rewatchable films I know, just something so uniquely hypnotic and disquieting about it.