Les soviets plus l'électricité is a dazzling and though-provoking journey, spanning Russia to Magadan in Siberia. For the filmmaker, the city of Magadan has come to represent a golden city, barely tangible, dwelling in the corners of the mind rather than in reality. Based on excerpts from his auditory diary, documentary footage and insights gleaned along the way, filmmaker Nicolas Rey goes in search of the roots of the Utopia of his mind. But his is no conventional narrative documentary - it comes with a warning label. It lays down a challenge to the spectator. When watching this film, the viewer is not just passive and mute witness. The viewer, like the filmmaker, travels through the film in fits and starts. It is up to the viewer to fill in the gap and complete the film. Nicolas Rey invites the viewer to travel to the ends of the earth with him and the experience the same feeling and sensations as he does. The resulting film is intimate, engaging and enlighting.
Taïwan International Documentary Festival 2002