Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Sonnenallee" is a German 85-minute movie from almost 20 years ago that features some of Germany's biggest rising stars from around that time in Alexander Scheer, Robert Stadlober and Alexander Beyer. They may not be too well-known today anymore, but back then they were. And there are some more established actors on board too, such as Henry Hübchen, Katharina Thalbach and Detlev Buck. It's not really their fault that this film is not working for the most part. There is a touch of "Goodbye Lenin" to it as it depicts life in the GDR of especially younger people, but it's all less refined and does not feel right on many occasions. The writer and director is Leander Haußmann, certainly well-known here in Germany, and I felt at times that he tried to make a mix of stuff like coming-of-age films like "The Breakfast Club", but also included the political context that has been overdone by now in German cinema.And in terms of the genre, nothing new is delivered by this movie here. I cannot say I enjoyed the watch a lot. It was obviously the filmmaker's intention to make almost all the characters likable, but the actors weren't good on several occasions, especially the younger actors and Stadlober in particular, who just isn't very talented. One of the few good things is that the film is fairly short, but it's still disappointing to see a team of so many writers work on a movie and the result is something as forgettable as "Sonnenallee". I cannot agree with all the awards attention that this film got. Haußmann has done better on several other occasions and it's a bit sad that this is probably his most known work to-date. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

monika-uni The movie is fun to watch and there is a lot of truth in it, but there are also lots of inaccuracies and exaggerations - especially the first minutes are almost unbearable. Some are for the humorous effect, but I feel some are because of lack of care.'Goodbye Lenin' definitely is the better movie.The character of Miriam remains very shallow, she mutates from the teasing and arrogant girl to Micha's girlfriend, but hey, it's a comedy, character development needn't be realistic.I loved that the neighbor turns out not be in the stasi but an undertaker, and that the "rich West kid" really is a valet parking cars and gets into deep trouble in the end.So after all, there are stabs at both East and West Germans. Fair play.

MayhapsItWasGoodBackThen I had absolutely no idea of what this film was about (other than that it was supposed to be a comedy of some sort) and therefore had hardly any grand expectations of it. A German movie? Right... well why not give it a try anyways... and what do you know, this film turned out to be an excellent one!Fresh, funny and tragic, full of lively acting (Thanks to great actors albeit rather unknown to bigger audience I presume), clever script and witty and eloquent dialogue. A sort of coming-of-age story in a disturbing setting which is not exactly the world of opportunities to say the least. Craving for something so bad it's about the only thing you live for (be that a new rock album, a girl you've fallen in love with or something else), rise of counter-culture idealism, loss of innocence, making important choices for the first time in your life (and having sex with more partners than with just yourself, heh).Altho an average American might think this story must have been a vastly exaggerated, it's not (I'm not of German origin either so I don't have a strong personal feel on the topics this picture deals with but I've read my share of history books so I dare to say I have the basic facts right in which to back myself up). Strip down the humorous elements and I bet you get what life pretty much was back then in the East-Germany. Strong censorship, limited freedom of speech (banned topics, one-party politics), one of the closest guarded boarder lines in the history of mankind with extremely thorough customs procedures etc etc.It now seems more than unbelievable that there once was a huge wall (and mind you people just 12 years back in history!) which divided a whole city in the middle thus separating an entire nation in two: to the rich west and the poor east. People in the East-Germany forced to live under the forever observing eyes of the Big Brother in the communists' utopia while the better-off people of the West-Germany lived the capitalists' dream...But still entire families were simultaneously torn apart, former friends and neighbors now living on the other side were seen as traitors and enemies of the state by both sides. The threat was always coming from "the other side" depending on which side you were living in! West-Germans looking down and pitying on their Eastern neighbor while East-Germans envy the western lifestyle but want to hold onto their pride. Common shared past is something you just can't wipe out altogether. Ridiculous times but unfortunately true nevertheless.I felt that this movie dealt with important issues and things which we should never forget. We all know it's easier to cope with difficult situations if you can filter them through humor and see something good and redeeming in most things rather than always seeing the worst in everything.Don't get me wrong this isn't a serious movies or hard one to watch per se (except for the ending)- it's great fun but if so desired a great opportunity to start a discussion. There were many outrageously funny scenes and on more than one occasion I burst out laughing out loud!I strongly recommend seeing this movie. Saved my day at least!

marco-111 I caught this one on a long flight from Singapore to Vancouver in German with English subtitles and I really loved it, it was really funny and sad in some ways at the same time.I probably can relate to it more than the average North American because I grew up in Europe, but I think the movie would be very enjoyable for more or less everybody, and surely better than some crappy movies recently seen on this side of the oceanHighly recommended if you can find it.