Blockbuster Movies Can't Compete with These Monumental Views

As you enter the front gate and push through dense, dripping foliage, you may wonder if you’ve made a wrong turn. Then, through the thick leaves, you catch a reassuring glimpse of a neat garden and, just beyond it, a long, columned terrace. A late-morning downpour seems to have spent itself and at the end of this unexpected patch of jungle, you’re confronted all at once with a staggering view of São Paulo, slashed now with sunshine. The entire scene is framed, as if within a 70mm movie lens, by the Strozenberg family’s long, low-slung, light-filled living room.