How Seyfried Changed my Viewing Habit: That Fifth Element

There's this element of surprise when you're bored and you find yourself randomly watching a movie. You stared at that movie poster of Chloe; what caught your eye is the well-known cast and you thought, "Hey, Seyfried, Neeson and Moore is in it. . .maybe this is worth the while." And so you did watch it and then you find yourself during the duration of the movie, grapple from certain scenes: of nudity and the scandalous content. Then in the back of your head, you're suddenly wondering what the hell just happened? As your eyes widened to such.

This is the fifth part of The Seyfried Series. I was talking about ERW towards the end of the forth part so this time I'll continue on with some of her acclaimed movies.

Of Nudity
and Scandalous Scenes.

*Warning: May contain SPOILERS and an Explicit Pic (as per the title's indication, don't worry there's just ONE slightly nude PIC)*

One of my fave TV shows (when I was young) was Charmed and Gilmore Girls. Back then I wanted to be a witch as cool as Piper and Paige or be a spontaneous book nerd like Rory and be enigmatic with Dean in tow. Such wishful thinking indeed! ! !

A scene from GIRLS.

Then I grew up and started seeing alot more series than I usually intend to, with different kinds of themes (I will go straight to the point). Now, there are certain series that has nudity in it (like Girls or any HBO produced series) and others that are gory, very graphic violence, explicit content and language (like Spartacus). I don't have a lot of friends who watch these kinds of shows: Tin and Mitch is into Grey's Anatomy and Maisa who's been my TV Buddy is into GG, House, TVD and PLL while the others they stick to their local channels instead :).

A week ago:

I was teasing a friend of mine, Chona (she falls to the category of local channels only haha), and here's how the text convo went:

Chona: What are you doing?
JK: I just got home, I'm watching another HBO series (Mildred Pierce).
Cho: Series. . . series. . . series. . . (na naman) again?
Jk: Yeah! It has Kate Winslet in it, tapos I read that ERW (Evan Rachel Wood) has some nudity (daw) that's why I want to see it haha (me in teasing mode)
Cho: Ewwww
Jk: C'mon! Which would you rather see: nudity or some revealing sex scenes?
Cho: Sa nudity na lang hehehe
Jk: See! haha Good answer haha

*Guys I watched it, and lil did I know, the series has both nudity and sex scene in it LOL (I will discuss that later on)

Of Nudity:

A week ago before that:

I was loading a series, called Girls(an HBO series), I was also planning in replaying shows of SON and TCD so I downloaded them too. Then I receive a text from Cho, she said she wants to come over my place. And I told her, it's okay I'm at home and I'm just watching some shows online and she can come if she wants too.
I was a bit hesitant watching the series Girls with Cho but that's the only video I can offer, I can't open another link since SON is half-way on its download, I have PLL and TWD on my computer but I doubt she'd like that since she's this sheltered type with the goody-good girl semblance. Still, I hit the play button.

From L-R: Marnie, Jessa, Hannah, and Shoshanna

We watched Season 1, episode 8 of Girls and I gave a small briefing of what the show is. . . (its about 4 girls who are friends. Hannah, the chubby one, likes Adam, likes to write; Marnie, the good looking one, Jessa, the liberated girl and her virgin cousin Shoshanna).

More of Hannah and Adam ♥

The episode includes a clip of a half-naked Shoshanna, a peek of Adam's bum, a shower scene, and an unexpected make-out scene of Jessa and Marnie (of which that scene I can't explain to Cho why that happened, I was speechless myself when that went on lol) I think I just uttered during that (just to get it out of the way) "Maybe they're drunk or they're just fooling around???" Other than that, overall the episode was great, its funny, abit crazy but alright and not to mention its filled with the growing relationship of Hannah and Adam. It is a very cute episode till the very end! ! ! :)

The end scene: where Hannah and Adam make amends.
(one of the memorable scenes of season one)

Since the next Girls episode was taking too long to download, I have no choice but to play the SON pilot episode; as the title card was shown at the back of my head, I'm still unsure if whether watching this series is a good idea or not. I vaguely briefed Cho about the show anyways. So what I did was skip some scenes and paused some parts.

Of Scandalous Scenes:

The night of March 15th, I watched HBO's Mildred Pierce(2011), a miniseries, starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and ERW (Evan Rachel Wood). Adapted from a novel (of the same name) and this is the second adaptation, the first one was a film staring Joan Crawford.

I like most of Winslet's movies (I have yet to see The Reader though maybe next time I will). So I was excited when I found a link online. Yey!!! The 40s era was cool!  Its great to see those vintage cars up and running. I notice there were no TVs just some old radio or was it a jukebox? It may seem remarkable but I don't think I can live through that timeline. No TV for me would be like living with no oxygen. If I may, I'll be holding on to this screen for dear life!! Just as how people are addicted to Facebook LOL.

The miniseries was divided into 5 episodes; episode 1 is an introduction to the characters and Mrs. Pierce's (Winslet) struggle as a single Mother; 3 tackles vaguely of the mother and daughter dynamic and fall outs with a small glaring inhibitions of a young Veda as her comfortable ease with Monty (Pearce) seems to hint that there was more into it than what meets the eye. I notice that little bit of scene of these two hehe. And so in episode 5, I kind of expected what might come next, with regards about the twist at the end.

I've also read several online comments about the ending as well, as netizens were complaining as they keep comparing it to the Crawford version. I do think both endings has its own merits as it is: The Crawford version implied a concluded ending and a closure for the Mother and daughter storyline whereas the 2011 version (which purely is closely resembling that of the book), leaving the ending for me -- no matter how bittersweet it made me feel -- fit this jarring realism into it (if you'd ponder more deeply) because we act out depending on our wants, needs and desire.

Veda

I think Mildred and Veda (ERW) are both struggling to let go but for a mother to do that? That's really hard and painful to bear. Moms always has this unconditional love for their child. As per Veda's case, who's got a mind of her own (with an understandable need for independence) -- her leaving for New York with Monty was just sane (at first look) but intuitively that's the essence of truth in life -- you don't change to be good overnight just like you don't get struck by a lightning every time you do some thing bad (okay maybe I went too far with that analogy LOL) but it doesn't mean you'll be bad forever because I do believe people change. Veda might change; she's still young, at 20. There'd be plenty of time to patch things up with her Mother but that's an open angle left for viewers to figure out.

The film's ending is bittersweet, I get it. I'd prefer it that way (although most comments I've read online says they find it abit depressing or condescending) but I find it alright. Its abit sad, I know but it made me see the film more in a different perspective than what the film suggests. It made me intently push forth a more need of introspection than the typified reaction wherewith a negation or some fault finding viewer tends to imply.

"This film made me care for my Mom and Da abit more than I usually feel or do, and that's a great thing right?"

Jude (Sturgess) and a field of strawberries mounted on the wall.

And Others:

I looked up online, regarding ERW's singing parts in Mildred Pierce, of which then brought me to reading about this musical film Across the Universe, which she starred together with the cutie and talented Jim Sturgess. Loved the movie itself. I can't even believe how almost perfect it was made; the dancing, all the characters sings in it, the acting were also great, the shots were nice too and definitely The Beatles songs are one of the highlights of this film. Its really awesome how well thought out this movie was; the details and some trivial Beatles things in it. I wasn't born yet when The Beatles were around, I only knew some of their hit songs. And Blackbird was my ever fave song from them (especially the Sarah McLachlan's version).

Thereafter, from a TV show called Once and Again, to HBO's Mildred Pierce, to a musical romance Across the Universe; I chose another of ERW's critically acclaimed movies, Thirteen. It stars ERW and Nikki Reed; written by Reed herself as a bio-account based on her life as a teen. Its sort of an insight towards a teenagers inner struggle. I can't put it into details but I find this film intriguing and raw. I must say ERW was truly superb in her acting in this. The events was sanely believable (I feel like I was watching a reality show, a docu or something) and how the controversial subjects of drugs, alcohol, sex, piercings, abuse and self-harm (at a young age) we're all shown in this film. I'm glad that I saw this movie. Its an eye-opener to certain sensitive issues and topics that few films tackles nowadays.

If you have a teenage daughter and you're probably thinking of how to come up getting through that "One-on-one talk about boys / drugs / love and sex thing" watch this film together and couple it up with other films like Juno or an episode of Glee (the one where Quin's dealing with pregnancy), then talk about it afterwards.  It may seem awkward at first but its a start to get through the complicated dilemmas of one's teenage years. Who knows maybe they'll thank you for the insights. Just be cool about it though and don't scare the poor thing haha.

Just a quick recap: I saw several Seyfried movies, which led me to remember Fingersmith, of which such British film made me see one after another, then another and another, hence the British invasion!!! Seen some art films, Swedish films, indie, Indian storylines, gay themed movies, lots of critically acclaimed movies, romcom flicks, nude scenes, and controversial ones.

• All in all, since the start of 2013, I've seen about more than 35 films and miniseries to date.
• Crammed to marathon 4 TV series while tracking several of the usual TV shows I'm watching.
• Watched the story summaries of 5 TV show couples at Youtube and a certain Youtube couple.
• Stumbled on watching at Youtube of about 3 Webseries and a couple of Webisodes.

With that said, I've run out of movies to watch next, as the recommendations in Youtube hasn't really been that impressive yet. And I've almost seen everything of what's in that IMDB movie list so far. So sadly, I may say, this is the last part of The Seyfried Series, for now. But to end this piece, lemme leave you with my  favorite webseries on Youtube that I recently watched:

Good People in Love (Trailer), 

starring Steven Alexander, and Rachael Hip-Flores.

for the full show: click here. 

"Let's get married." This is one of the most memorable lines in the series.  As two people standing on different poles make a bet; with that risking the commotion of friendship, marriage and relationships during dinner night, as they take part to manipulate their way in finding what it takes to jump in towards love. "Let's get married." I wonder which one of the characters will truly say that?

Disclaimer: She said, let's get married. Would you say yes, if she did ask you Dave?


The Seyfried Series links: click below

Part One: How Seyfried Changed my Viewing Habit: The First Time

Part Two: How Seyfried Changed my Viewing Habit: Second Time Around

Part Three: How Seyfried Changed my Viewing Habit: Thirds aCharm

Part Four: How Seyfried Changed my Viewing Habit: The ForthMarvel

* * *

Notes: I just finished tracking certain TV shows of TWD, PLL, OUAT, Raising Hope, and TCD.
           I'm still catching up with HBO's Girls season 2 though.

What to watch next: White Collar, Spartacus, and TBBT
What to watch soon: The Americans (new show), Revenge,
      Covert Affairs and Harper's Island (UK series)

Current Movie: Something Real and Good (Movie Review)

Currently Watching: TWD

Currently Listening: Jekyll and Hyde by Plumb