Dresen films much of the movie in close-up and medium shots, making sure we see every wrinkle and age spot, every expression, every emotion.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 23, 2020

"Cloud 9" offers the welcome spectacle of two oldsters discovering romantic bliss, even though that bliss ultimately comes at the expense of others.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 23, 2020

Cloud 9 is most moving when it steps quietly into the gap between physical decline and the persistence, at full blast, of unfulfilled longing and desire.

| Sep 23, 2020

There is tragedy and awkwardness here, but Cloud 9 never feels like a chore.

| Sep 23, 2020

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 14, 2010

Sometimes, apparently, the old saw about the heart wanting what it wants can apply to seniors precisely the same way it does to the young and foolish.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 29, 2010

The film may attract older moviegoers curious to see their generation represented onscreen doing what comes naturally for once. It's doubtful that the general audience will be so inclined.

| Jul 6, 2010

This German entry benefits from a matter-of-fact approach.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 2, 2010

This moral ambivalence is both the movie's strength and its greatest weakness. In virtually every way, Inge's behavior is unconscionable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 2, 2010

The heart is a riddle, and Cloud 9 deftly, wittily counts the ways.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2009

The result is a film in which age matters not at all and yet still matters hugely, and in which love is still a dream come true and an absolute mess.

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 9, 2009

Dresen shows the events with a matter-of-fact clarity and patience, with a lack of editing or obnoxious musical score; the tone is startlingly quiet.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 10, 2009

This German melodrama has its share of problems (uncertain tone, unsatisfying closure), but in its many good moments, it offers a honest portrait of sex among the elderly, which is an almost taboo subject in American movies.

| Original Score: B | Aug 29, 2009

An otherwise routine look at a love triangle is passed with middling success through geriatric and Teutonic filters in this largely improvised drama from veteran German director Andreas Dresen.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 28, 2009

Manages to be vital, wrenching and even humorous yet does not deny the omnipresence of mortality.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 28, 2009

Mr. Dresen and his actors create an atmosphere of reckless vulnerability that's immediately compelling and artistically intriguing. We want to explore this relationship further.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 26, 2009

Literally and figuratively blows the sheets off the taboo subject of geriatric sexuality.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 18, 2009

Brave, provocative and deeply poignant with a raw and heartfelt performance by Ursula Werner. It's easily one of the most powerfully emotional films of the year.

| Original Score: 9.0/10 | Aug 18, 2009

a sincere, thoughtful tale of the human heart

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2009

Unrelated to its misleading title of imaginary bliss is an overriding theme about old age offering no surefire recipe for wisdom, or even for much common sense. How's that for depressing?

| Original Score: D+ | Aug 16, 2009