We open in a seedy bar, where the smooth sounds of impressive female vocals fill a mostly empty room. You're already thinking "what the heck, this girl seems way too talented to be singing at this small town bar!" And you're right, because it's Kelly f*cking Clarkson, winner of "American Idol," American hearts everywhere, and the leading role in the most influential film of the 2000s.
That's right, "From Justin to Kelly,"
the iconic masterpiece written and directed by nobody important, which
shattered pre-established notions of what film should be and redefined
cinema as we knew it. On a superficial level, it's easy to see just why
this movie appeals to us — the slow-building ballads, the high drama, the
expertly crafted story arc — but we're not here to just scratch the
surface. We're here to delve into what makes "From Justin to Kelly" literally The Greatest Film of All Time.
The method acting.
Kelly
Clarkson, following in the footsteps of other greats such as Daniel
Day-Lewis and Christian Bale, mastered the art of method acting with
this one — upon receiving the script for "From Justin to Kelly," she cried for
over an hour,
no doubt in preparation for the scene in which she shares a tearful
confrontation with Alexa after her nefarious plot to keep Justin from
Kelly was revealed. Kelly's sublime performance in this scene shook us
to our very core and forced us to ask ourselves: who are we, really,
when everything else is stripped away?
The chemistry.
We
all know that phrase "chemistry is something you can't fake," but our
leads take this idea to an entirely new plane. I found myself having to
remind myself several times throughout
"From Justin to Kelly" that it was
just a film and that they are just actors — I truly felt like I was watching two people fall in love over and over and
over again right in front of my eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if the
two
were falling in love behind the scenes: Justin's extremely
heteroerotic energy combined with Kelly's unrelenting sexual intensity
had viewers everywhere transfixed and left us wondering if a love that
burned so brightly on the big screen could really stop there. Take this
iconic scene, for example, during which Justin professes his love for
Kelly through song:
The undeniable look in his eyes speaks of a deep, true love, and in no way indicates any
intention
of serial
murder.
The dismantling of stereotypes.
"From Justin to Kelly" was
so much more than just an incredible film about the trials of love and
loss. There was another very important message at its core: the message
of anti-racism. In an unprecedented and extremely bold move by the
film's writers, the character Carlos is introduced and, get this — Carlos
is Mexican/Latino/Spanish and
works a sh*tty job at a sh*tty restaurant and goes salsa dancing in his spare time. "From Justin to Kelly"
bravely dismantles the stereotype that Mexican/Latino/Spanish men do
not work at restaurants and especially do not salsa dance. Thanks to the courageous writers, racism dropped over
500,000 percent worldwide after the film's release.
This b*tch.
"From Justin to Kelly"
introduced one of the most complex antagonists the big screen has ever
seen. Alexa, at first glance, was just a fun and wild friend; she would
be considered a "party girl" if
"From Justin to Kelly" dealt in
simple stereotypes. But, as we've learned, it doesn't. Alexa's story
arc was breathtaking: in the beginning, we like her, then we hate her
for interfering with destiny, then
we empathize with her for always feeling inferior to Kelly Clarkson,
then we love her for bringing Justin and Kelly back together and setting
fate right. No character in the history of cinema has ever experienced
as much growth nor such absolute redemption as Alexa, and with her
character, the writers of
"From Justin to Kelly" introduced a revolutionary idea to the world of film: sometimes, the bad guys are just misunderstood.
