In the annals of pop and film history, 2002 remains a definitive year for the female-led road movie. It almost seems shocking now to realize Tamra Davis’ CROSSROADS came out only a few months before Lynne Ramsay’s MORVERN CALLAR, two films about turning to your best friends in the face of your boyfriend leaving you, or dying on you. Britney Spears lights up the screen in a shockingly earnest screen debut, with elements of her character mirroring the just-off-screen reality of her life being consumed by paparazzi coverage and rabid fan speculation. Considering Britney’s role premiered the same year as Mandy Moore’s so-so acting chops in A WALK TO REMEMBER, and just a few months after Mariah Carey’s disastrous performance in GLITTER, Britney rises to the challenge and defies the popstar expectations, suffusing the film with a bit of meta-commentary on her life as young celeb amidst the lecherous hordes of the music industry. Just across the pond, Samatha Morton was making waves in her breakout indie role for MORVERN CALLAR, the same year she made her Hollywood splash in Steven Spielberg’s MINORITY REPORT. Samantha stars as Morvern, a young woman who comes face-to-face with the sudden suicide of her boyfriend. Along with a note, he has provided her with some money, a mixtape, and an unpublished novel he wants her to publish posthumously in his name. Without resorting to rote psychological explanations or narrative shortcuts, she decides to take the money and go on a spring break-style road trip with her best friend, and publish the novel as her own. Suffused with darker themes and headier ideas, MORVERN presents the journey of the young ladies in CROSSROADS with more nuance and mystery, claiming its place as one of the most unsung masterpiece of the 2000s, simultaneously elevating CROSSROADS in its depiction of a cultural icon caught within the crosshairs of fame.