“I wanted to see a show about Brazil not be in it”

“I wanted to see a show about Brazil not be in it”

Friday afternoon, during a normal “Is there anything interesting to do with GiGi in the city?” Google search I happened to come across PERSOL MAGNIFICENT OBSESSIONS: 30 stories of craftsmanship in film. Billed as a behind the scenes peak of movies and featuring production stills, artifacts, never before seen sketches, etc. of such classics as Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL, … and, well I really didn’t know. The Google preview ended after Gilliam (which was good enough for me) and figured dedication to craft and sketches probably would’ve included something Disney and with thunder storms rolling in, it seemed like a good idea to try and see if GiGi could have some indoor fun at this.

We managed to make it almost the entire four blocks when the sky opened up three doors away from our destination. I mean literally, I couldn’t see in front of my own eyes. The only logical thing to do was continue ahead because it is a lot easier to push a carriage blindly for half a second, then to turn around and head home. We entered the first floor surrounded by nothing but the delightful toddler giggles of, “I’m wet.” With nobody to point us in the right direction, Lauren and I decided we’d just go in the elevator, checking every floor until we found the display or a person to lead us in the right direction. A few seconds later, there was a rather odd shift below our feet between the first and second floor and we stopped.

It is an interesting thing, when you get stuck in an elevator; the second it happens you know that you’re stuck. Even if you’ve never actually been in the situation before there is a sense that kicks in, at least it did with me, and you know this is not your usual elevator stall. I looked across the tiny chamber and saw Lauren’s eyes saying, “I am sure that everything I am saying right now is a lie,” as she cheerily said, “We’ll give it a minute, I’m sure it’ll start up again.” My equally lying face returned with, “Oh yeah,” as my brain began to say, “just don’t think about the Tower of Terror. Shit! Ok, just don’t do it again, remember the priority is GiGi.” When you are stuck in a confined space for God knows how long, it is imperative that you keep a toddler calm. Not only will screams and cries make the wait worse, you can do absolutely nothing to pacify or calm someone who can’t tell time. We needed GiGi to want to be in the elevator.

After not restarting, making the emergency call, and having men knocking outside asking if we were still in there, G seemed to notice something was different than usual. When they told us to pull the alarm to alert the company, she said she didn’t like “Loud” which we relayed after turning it off, and the men said it was okay because now whoever was going to save us, knew we were stuck. Great the noise can stay off, except, ut oh, Gigi heard the word “stuck.”

“No, no! GiGi no stuck!”

We told her that no, we weren’t stuck and Lauren told her how she wasn’t stuck because she could get out of her carriage; great quick thinking on her part. I immediately followed with, “Hey, why don’t you sing a song,” (can you tell I am a big fan of THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and she happily agreed as long as “Raurin and Lala” sing too, which is exactly what we did until she realized that we were still in an elevator and people were talking around her, so we told her we were in the middle of hide and seek and she had found a really good place for us to hide because the men still hadn’t found us. This made G very happy and we continued having a fun little time singing and laughing in our secret little world only stopping when workers would talk to us, until after 10 or 15 minutes, the doors were forced open and we stepped up a foot and, at long last, onto the second floor.

Everyone was apologetic and applauded GiGi for having been so brave but she was just happy to have been such a good hider. She was even more excited when she got to climb up two more flights of stairs (which looked extremely Brazil-esque) and everyone said hello to her on the way up. As we journeyed up, Lauren said the phrase in the title, an allusion to the scene in BRAZIL when Sam Lowry has to force his way out of a stuck “lift.”

When we got to the display we realized that there was no Disney, and no child related movies at all, but having made such an entrance, it seemed only polite to at least give the place a walk around. First stop was BRAZIL, complete with a video playing of Gilliam talking about his trials and tribulations during production and post production, which seemed like it would be interesting and I hoped I might absorb in the few seconds I figured G would wander around looking at the display.

“Who dat?” she asked. “That is the director of this movie GiGi, his name is Terry,” I replied.

“Sit,” GiGi motioned toward the couch directly adjacent. “Watch Terry.” Only after sitting through the whole video, which had to be as 10-20 minutes, would G get up and look at the artifacts, which include the famous Baby Mask. She had in fact sat there so long that Lauren took photos of the entire display around us (we didn’t see the sign until leaving) so I told her to watch the video if she wanted while G and I take a quick peek at the surrounding displays. There was TAXI DRIVER, with scenes playing but after asking me who DiNiro was, I was informed she, “no like” so we moved on to GHANDI which had a model of the set. After I explained we couldn’t play with that she told me we had to, “sit watch GHANDI,” but she quickly tired of so we looked at special effects lights and I told her how she had met Leonardo DiCaprio while still inside her mommy’s belly (“Oh, yes) at the AVIATOR installation.

By the time we had finished listening to heightened sounds used in cinema, one of which- bugs- Gigi hilariously kept mimicking on the way home, Lauren was done and the three of us headed toward the exit. That is until GiGi yelled “Terry.” We went back to BRAZIL and showed her that Gilliam was still there talking on the wall and asked her if we could leave. Luckily she replied, “yes, ok, bye Terry.” Then she blew the screen a kiss. I think she’s a fan.