Jules (2023)

Synopsis

So, your first worry is: How sad is this going to be? The melancholy theme music sets the mood as we watch a solitary man walking down a deserted small town street on an overcast day. He’s Milton (Ben Kingsley), an elderly widower in this Western Pennsylvania village. He’s attending the city council meeting, where his suggestions at the open mike session plant the idea he’s drifting into dementia.

So no one believes Milton when he tries to report that a spacecraft has crashed in his backyard, destroying his prized bed of azaleas. Not the 911 operator. Not his daughter. And certainly not the city council members or attendees with whom he shares this news at the next open mike opportunity.

When, a little later, Milton discovers an ailing blue alien humanoid lying next to the craft, he shrugs and doesn’t make as much fuss. He nurses Jules (Jade Quon) back to health with water and apples, and he shares his news with a few locals. Soon enough, fellow retiree Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and nosey neighbor Joyce (Jane Curtin) become acquainted with Milton’s houseguest.

At first fretful about Jules, Sandy and Joyce are soon beguiled by the enigmatic alien. Jules’ expressionless gaze makes it possible for them to imagine he understands and empathizes as they and Milton share their fears about growing older, their regrets about family ties that have been severed, and their hurt over prejudices toward the elderly and others in general.

There’s always an unexpected turning point in tales like this, and when it comes the story shifts to the trio’s desperate efforts to understand, and acquire, the material (ahem!) that Jules needs to repair his craft and return home before the government guys crash in and take him away to be dissected. It’s like E.T., only this time with senior citizens (acting a bit like kids) scavenging the countryside for their small blue friend.

See It

The filmmakers’ choice of a science fiction backstory is, well … let’s just say this is not your movie if you expect that Jules is a xenomorph or a spacefaring pirate fleeing intergalactic justice. Jules is an “alien” in multiple senses, acting as a sounding board for wide-ranging discussions and confessions that enrich the story beyond its simple premise.

The ensemble cast of Ben Kingsley, Harriet Harris, and Jane Curtin work perfectly together. The initial tension between them grows into camaraderie in such a subtle and authentic way that you don’t realize it … until it’s there and you realize three strangers have become lifelong friends (for whatever time they have left).

It must be hard to act “not acting,” and diminutive Jade Quon turns in a perfectly restrained performance as the well meaning Jules, whose mission to earth remains a mystery and whose departure leaves us wanting more.

Though it feels a bit haphazardly slapped together toward the end, Jules nonetheless is an affecting, quirky, and occasionally mirthful story whose musings on life’s regrets and universal fears of growing older is worth the time to take in.

How sad does it turn out to be? Just enough.