"Märzmelodie" is an out of time experience: a warm-hearted and old-fashioned, yet thoroughly original boy-meets-girl story. It starts with a charming, 1950s style animated title sequence that gently morphs into real-life action, resembling Marc Webb's use of impromptu graffiti in his 2005 video for Daniel Powter's "Bad Day". Within the first few minutes, gorgeous Katja (Jana Pallaske) breaks Thilo's heart, only to have her heart broken by Thilo's best friend Florian in turn. Good thing Thilo (Jan Henrik Stahlberg) has friends acting as not-so-clandestine matchmakers, arranging for him to get romantically involved with Anna, a burnt-out schoolteacher (Alexandra Neldel). It's nice to see Stahlberg, the prototypical hard man of "Muxmäuschenstill" and "Knallhart", as a head-in-the-clouds kind of guy. Touching performance by Inga Busch as Anna's best friend, a long-suffering working mum. The action is interspersed with 10-second snippets from popular songs, lip-synced by the actors. Highlights include Rio Reiser, Udo Lindenberg, Westernhagen, Nena and the immortal Zarah Leander.