Jules (2023)

Milton (Ben Kingsley) is an elderly man who lives alone in a small town in Pennsylvania. He watches his TV programs, attends City Council meetings to suggest they change the town slogan, and sometimes puts cans of green beans in his bathroom cabinet, to his daughter Denise's (Zoe Winters) growing concern.

One night, a flying saucer crashes into his backyard, crushing his azaleas and his birdbath. Receiving no help from the police or city council, Milton eventually offers the alien (Jade Quon) a blanket and some water, then lets it come inside his house. He figures out it likes apples, accepts the drawings of whiskered creatures it offers as gifts, and watches it repair its ship.

While Denise tries to get her father to consider moving into assisted living, two other seniors in the community, Sandy (Harriet Hansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin), become aware of the alien (called "Jules" by Sandy and eventually Milton, but "Gary" by Joyce) and start spending a lot of time at Milton's. 

All three are dealing (or avoiding dealing) with being near the end of their lives. What do they have to pass on, and is there anyone that wants it? Sandy's husband died in the last few years, after his mental state got progressively worse in much the same way Milton's is. She tells Jules her daughter lives across the country with her girlfriend, and spend all their time sucking up to the girlfriend's mother, never coming to visit. She tries to set up a elder-teen mentor program. It doesn't go well. I'm not sure Joyce has anyone, as she mostly talks about her time in 'the big city.' So she tries to get involved in everybody's else's lives. Denise looks after her father, but his son never calls because Milton apparently just, gave up on trying to be a dad. 'No reason to keep going at something you're no good at,' he explains to Jules.

It's the kind of movie where characters give lengthy speeches that explain their backstories and motivations. If you figure they haven't had anyone listening to them, it makes sense. Jules never speaks, gives no indication they understand, but appears attentive, which is more than can be said for the City Council. Jules follows Milton around the house, watching him explain the bathroom and that sometimes the hot water takes a minute. When Milton falls asleep sitting up on the sofa, he wakes up laid out, a blanket over him him and his glasses set aside.

I can't decide whether Milton approaches things how he does, in a very structured, repetitive way, because it helps him to keep things organized, or because he simply forgets. Does he keep telling the City Council he thinks they should change the slogan because it really matters to him, or because he can't remember he's already suggested it? Joyce has apparently been stumping for a pickleball court for 4 years, so I can't rule out that he's just persistent.

It takes him a couple days to even bring up the UFO crashing in his backyard, it takes more time beyond that before he brings out a blanket for the alien laying in his yard. Is he forgetting, or does it just take him a while to fit the new information in and do something with it? There's a fragility to how Kingsley plays him, the way he pulls back. During the scene in the doctor's office, you can see him getting frustrated as he can't pass the cognition tests, but also see him withdrawing. Sinking back into the seat as the reality of what he's here for sinks in. There's a reluctance to get close. While Joyce and Sandy argue about what to call the alien, Milton says he's not going to call it anything. It's not staying, so there's no point. He asks Sandy how things progressed for her husband, but won't confirm anything about himself. He starts looking out the window instead, unwilling to face the future ahead.

There's a subplot about the government trying to find Jules, shown mostly through some command center where people in suits listen to every phone conversation for key phrases. Repeated bits where agents are dispatched to an address, someone knocks on Milton's door, and the agents are actually standing in front of a different home. It's mostly to add urgency to the need to help Jules repair the ship (in a truly bizarre way I will not spoil.)

The cops briefly take interest in Sandy after an incident at her house, but that never really goes anywhere, other than me noticing that in Pennsylvania they apparently call them "speed humps" rather than "speed bumps." This is what happens when you let Quakers found a state! The cop thing peters out after that. It's like the movie wanted to establish something about Jules, then realized the fallout would have to involve cops to some extent, and did the bare minimum necessary. The movie's better off when it just sticks to the core of Jules, Milton, Sandy, Joyce, and Denise (who doesn't get a lot to do, but is crucial for showing Milton's not as alone as he acts.)