Pop music, fashion and sex. The obsessions of teenagers everywhere, even 1970's East Berlin. While the shadow of military service looms Micha and his friends are having to deal with more immediate problems. These include deciding what to wear, how to get hold of the new Rolling Stones album and, most importantly, impressing girls.

Micha also has to deal with the problem of being probably the only sane member of his family. His sister changes boyfriends more often than she changes her underwear, his father fakes epilepsy just to get a telephone installed and his uncle smuggles goods from the West which they already have in the East.

The communist east shown here is full of misguided eccentrics and loveable rogues. Much like Life is Beautiful the characters live in a fairy tale which still retains a dark underlying reality.

Strangely enough Sun Alley also made me think of Braveheart's "They'll never take our freedom" speech. Every character exemplifies that spirit, but unlike Mel Gibson and the Hollywood machine the director Leander Haussmann didn't feel the need to beat us over the head to get his point across.

He's made a sweet, funny debut feature which is nostalgic without ever becoming sentimental. And maybe my maths is wrong but haven't the Rolling Stones been in existence for almost as long as East Germany was?