Met visitors are invited to walk through Tomás Saraceno’s engaging environment of the future, “Cloud City” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Tuesday – Sunday through November 4 (weather permitting)
Recommended admission: $20 adults, children under twelve free
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org
cloud city slideshow
Two years ago, Met visitors were invited to walk inside Doug and Mike Starn’s environmentally friendly rooftop installation, “Big Bambú,” a junglelike pathway made of bamboo. This year people can enter a much more futuristic construction, Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno’s space-age “Cloud City.” Sitting atop the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, “Cloud City” is a geometric environment of walk-in modules made of mirrors, transparent acrylic, steel, and cords that give visitors a warped, fascinating view of the world around them, playing with their perception of reality and physical space. Like a house of mirrors, sometimes what should be in front of you is behind you, or what should be beneath you is above you. Where you should see east is west, or north becomes south. Part spaceship, part mechanical creature, and part airborne apartment complex of the future, “Cloud City” changes with the seasons; in the summer, it was filled with light and the green of the trees, but as the cold fall weather takes over, it is far more colorless. In order to enter the biosphere, visitors, who must be at least ten years old and four feet tall and weigh less than four hundred pounds, need to pick up a timed ticket on the fourth floor and store their bags and cameras in a locker. Each person gets about twenty minutes to navigate the stairs, platforms, and cool obstructions; women might want to avoid wearing loose skirts or dresses, as people below can watch you wander through the different modules (and photos are allowed outside of the structure). In honor of the installation, which is part of Saraceno’s continuing “Air-Port-City” project, the Met has even created a special Cloud City cocktail, made with dry ice, that you can order from the rooftop bar.
In such unique films as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Darjeeling Limited, black-comedy master Wes Anderson has created a bizarre collection of characters who seem to live in their own alternate realities. In his latest, Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson has once again assembled an oddball assortment of men, women, and children in a terrifically clever and entertaining fairy tale all its own. Tired of being abused by his fellow Khaki Scouts and dismissed by his foster parents, twelve-year-old orphan Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) runs away from Camp Ivanhoe on the island of New Penzance, much to the chagrin of dedicated scout master Randy Ward (Edward Norton). Meanwhile, twelve-year-old loner Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) is fed up with her life as well, which she mostly spends listening to Benjamin Britten, reading fairy tales (fictitious stories made up by Anderson), watching the world through a pair of ever-present binoculars, and despising her parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand). Afraid of what might have happened to the children, the local police officer, Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), gets involved, as does a stern woman from social services (Tilda Swinton) and, eventually, a very different kind of scout, Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman). The proceedings are overseen by a narrator (Bob Balaban) who ends up being more than just an omniscient presence. Moonrise Kingdom is an absolute gem of a film, an exciting, original tale about growing up told in a fabulously funny deadpan manner that combines slapstick humor with wildly ironic elements, filled with the endless wonders of childhood, although it is most definitely not for children. Newcomers Gilman and Hayward appear wise beyond their years in the lead roles, with outstanding support from an all-star cast, most prominently Norton as the by-the-book scout master on a mission. Written by Anderson with Roman Coppola and featuring a lovely score by Alexandre Desplat, Moonrise Kingdom is one of the best films of the year, by a director whose imagination never ceases to amaze. 
The biggest box-office hit in South Korean history, The Thieves is an overly slick, way too self-satisfied heist flick from hot director Dong-hoo Choi, who has scored previous successes with the caper movie The Big Swindle, the gambling tale Tazza: The High Rollers, and the action fantasy Woochi. Master criminal Macao Park (Kim Yun-seok) brings together two talented teams of crooks, one from Hong Kong, the other from Korea, to steal the $20 million Tear of the Sun diamond from a well-guarded casino, but when things go terribly wrong, suspicion, greed, and betrayal lead to one last chance at revenge. The all-star cast includes Lee Jung-jae as Popie, the head of the Korean contingent; Kim Hye-soo as sexy safecracker Pepsee; Gianna Jun as wall climber Yenicall; Kim Soo-hyun as young up-and-comer Zampano; Kim Hae-sook as older disguise expert Chewingum; Simon Yam as Chen, the leader of the Hong Kong group; Angelica Lee as sexy safecracker Julie; and Oh Dal-soo as young weapons pro Andrew. Personalities clash, old romances brim to the surface, and deception rules the day in this too-long movie (135 minutes) that lacks the charm of Steven Soderbergh’s first Ocean’s Eleven film and the high-tech gadgetry of the Mission: Impossible movie series. Huge plot holes compete with a general goofiness as the film just goes on and on, bullets flying everywhere as Macao meets with diamond seeker Wei Hong (Ki Gook-seo) among a flurry of cops who just can’t be that inept. The whole enterprise feels flat, offering nothing new to one of cinema’s most exciting and fun genres.
Nominated for thirteen Swedish Academy Awards, Simon & the Oaks is a soapy, sweeping Scandinavian epic about the search for identity. The first film based on a novel by celebrated Swedish author Marianne Frederiksson, Simon & the Oaks follows the confused, troubled Simon as he grows from a timid boy (Jonatan S. Wächter) into a strapping young man (Bill Skargård, son of Stellan) during the WWII era. Simon loves music and books, but his working-class father, Erik (Stefan Gödicke), wants him to forget about education and instead learn a physical trade. Simon becomes friends with a Jewish boy, Isak (Karl Martin Eriksson, then Karl Linnertorp), whose father, Ruben (Jan Josef Liefers), has moved the family from Germany to escape the Nazis. As Simon starts spending more time with Ruben, Erik becomes angry and resentful, while Simon’s mother, Karin (Helen Sjöholm), develops a dangerous closeness with Ruben, a wealthy businessman whose wife (Lena Nylén) is confined to a sanitarium. Simon is a dreamer, looking out at the horizon believing that anything is possible, talking to the whispering oak by the lake behind his house. But he lives in a changing world where everyone around him has to face startling realities centered around bigotry and genocide while protecting him from a powerful secret. Director Lisa Ohlin (Sex, Hope and Love, Waiting for the Tenor), who experienced some of the same things that Simon does, gives the film a lush, grand feel that often overwhelms its more personal story while including numerous clichéd scenes, particularly between fathers and sons, that detract from the already straightforward narrative. The film works best when Liefers is on-screen, playing a complex character who is fascinating to watch as he calmly moves forward despite the maelstrom that surrounds him. Simon & the Oaks opens October 12 at the Paris Theatre, with Ohlin appearing for a Q&A following the 7:00 screening.