Sonnenallee

Sonnenallee is set in 1970s East Berlin, on the eastern stretch of a street that is cut in two by the Berlin Wall and serves as one of the few crossings between East and West for German citizens. Seventeen-year-old Micha and his friend Mario live with their families right by the border, close to finishing school and busy with small acts of rebellion, from forbidden rock music to the jeans they covet. Micha is in love with Miriam, the most admired girl in school, who seems as far out of reach as the West itself. Around the friends are relatives from West Berlin who visit and smuggle in useless goods, a mother quietly rehearsing an escape, a neighbour who informs for the Stasi, and bored westerners who come to stare across the border.

Leander Haußmann directed, co-writing the screenplay with Thomas Brussig and Detlev Buck. It was Haußmann's first feature, followed by Berlin Blues in 2003 and NVA in 2005. Alexander Scheer plays Micha, with Alexander Beyer as Mario, Katharina Thalbach as his mother, Teresa Weißbach as Miriam, Henry Hübchen as his father, and Detlev Buck as a local police officer. The comedy took about 13 million dollars worldwide against the modest means typical of its production. On TMDB it holds 6.7/10 from 129 votes, a solid audience result for a German comedy of its period.