Purgatory

 A pair streaming on the Fandor site:

JETHICA (A-minus) - A clever, simple story is buoyed by a stellar ensemble cast to explore the ideas of obsessive relationships, hauntings and atonement. On the surface, it tells the story of Jessica, who is fleeing a stalker and ends up back near her hometown outside Santa Fe, N.M., where she runs into an old friend. It turns out Jessica's stalker is more of a ghost, and her friend is dealing with her own apparition. 

If that sounds contrived, it's not. Neither is it yet another cookie-cutter horror film, thank goodness. No, it's a smart, thoughtful, concise (72-minute), ruminative buddy film and quasi road movie. Jessica (Ashley Denise Robinson) has a situation on her hands as she drives through the Southwest, and she agrees to pull over and crash with Elena (Callie Hernandez), who is lying low in her grandmother's trailer out in the middle of nowhere. They don't seem to have been close friends back in school, but they bond over their respective predicaments.

Meanwhile, Jessica's "stalker," Kevin (an inspired Will Madden) besieges the trailer with his paeans of devotion to the object of his obsession, pardon his slight lisp, Jethica. The movie trailer lets slip what's really going on here; suffice it to say that Elena has learned a few tricks on how to deal with those trapped between worlds. What's interesting is that Elena and Jessica are themselves trapped in their own netherworlds. They are living off the grid, on the run, paying penance for their perceived sins.

All of this plays out efficiently on a micro-budget with a script attributed to director Pete Ohs and his four principal actors (including Andy Faulkner as Benny), suggesting a lot of improv and a healthy amount of quirk. While Kevin's rants are off the charts, the other dialogue, especially between the women, feels spare and lived-in. Robinson has a way of conveying a lot of meaning merely with subtle looks. Hernandez -- a charismatic cross between Parker Posey and Selma Blair, with a droll Allison Williams delivery -- is the key go-between among the other three. Madden makes his madness almost lovable, and Faulkner wraps things up with a slam dunk of a final scene. 

You can try to write this off as a knock-off Mumblecore spook session, but it's better than you might expect, a director and his quartet of actors bringing their A game. (Note: Some New Mexicans might be distracted at the end of the movie. It purports to take place entirely near Santa Fe, an hour north of Albuquerque, but the final scene, based on a prominent road sign, takes place near Socorro, which is an hour south of Albuquerque.) 

L'ICEBERG (2007) (C) - From Belgium comes this trifle from what seems like a long-ago era. It's a chronically quirky story of a woman who spends the night locked in a restaurant cooler who then becomes obsessed with making a pilgrimage to the polar region to commune with icebergs. 

Because her husband and children, back in their soulless suburb, didn't even miss her while she was gone overnight, Fiona (Fiona Gordon), struck with existential angst, flees on a journey of self-discovery. She eventually meets a deaf-mute sailor (what luck!) who will guide her on the final leg of her mission. 

Three people, including the movie's husband and wife, wrote and directed this broad farce. Gordon is a wild physical comedian -- a bit Lucy, a bit Olive Oyl -- and Dominique Abel is droll as the husband. The film has a whiff of "Amelie's" whimsy, with choreographed set-pieces. However, the slapstick is more Mr. Bean than Marx Brothers.

Beyond the spectacle of the cartoon-like proceedings, the story is just too listless to maintain even a thin 84-minute running time. It's just a little too silly to matter.