Achim Bornhak's movie focuses on the restless life of Uschi Obermaier, the icon of the 1968 movement in Germany and groupie. At the age of 16, Uschi is bored by her job in a photo lab, but soon becomes the "it girl" of Munich's club scene. When she gets to know Rainer Langhans, they move to Berlin and live in "Kommune 1", the first politically-motivated commune in Germany. While the other occupants claim she isn't political enough, Uschi just wants to have fun, works as fashion model and leads international music stars in temptation.
Like most flower-power nostalgia trips, Eight Miles High has the irksome effect of reminding the audience " whether too young or too square " that it missed out on the grooviest moment in history, man. But as these things go, this one goes with
– Nathan Lee,
New York Times,
11 Jul 2008
rotten:
Has little to offer beyond titillation and pretty landscapes.
– V.A. Musetto,
New York Post,
16 Jul 2008
rotten:
Eight Miles High, based on the memoirs of Uschi Obermaier, wants to be both a tangy piece of Eurosleaze and an overview of one woman's transformations from the heady days of the 1960s onward.
– Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Jul 2008
rotten:
The attractive but bird-brained German biopic Eight Miles High brings up the question of tone, and it never comes close to answering it. The film's tone is utterly indistinct, beyond fatuous adoration of its subject.
– Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Aug 2008
rotten:
It has few human insights, and those of the most obvious kind. But it is not boring. That goes for something.