Jules (film)

Milton Robinson is a 79-year-old widower living on his own. He frequently attends city council meetings and receives help from his daughter. One day, a UFO lands in his backyard and a small humanoid alien crawls out. He attempts to get help, calling the police and his daughter, and bringing it up at the city council meeting but is brushed off as senile.

Milton brings the alien, who is uncommunicative, inside and treats him as a guest, providing the alien with a tray of assorted food but discovering that the alien only drinks water and eats apples. Sandy, an acquaintance, stops by and discovers the alien, telling Milton that they should keep it a secret for its own safety. Joyce, another elderly woman, also discovers the alien. The alien begins repairing his ship but does not appear to be making quick progress. Milton's daughter hears about her father's antics and schedules him for a mental evaluation where they are told that his faculties are quickly diminishing and that they should consider assisted living. This upsets him, and he storms out.

Sandy, who is attempting to start a program to connect with the youth, is robbed by a young man she invites in. After she states that she will call the police, the man tackles and attempts to strangle her; however, the alien, who they named Jules, receives a vision of the events and telepathically causes the man's head to explode. This raises the suspicion of the NSA, who is conducting an ongoing search for the crashed spaceship. Milton, Sandy, and Joyce realize that Jules needs dead cats to power his ship, so Milton and Sandy go out to find some, but he continues to be troubled by thoughts of his declining faculties. Meanwhile, they are unknowingly followed by police who observe their strange activities. With the addition of Joyce's deaf and blind cat, they are able to repair the ship, and Jules invites them to join him. Milton considers accepting. He reconsiders after a phone call with his daughter, but when the NSA kicks down his door, he, Sandy, and Joyce hurriedly escape in the UFO. Jules drops them off at another location on Earth and they part ways.

Some time later, Milton is again visited by Jules.

• Ben Kingsley as Milton[5]
• Jane Curtin as Joyce[6]
• Harriet Sansom Harris as Sandy[6]
• Zoë Winters as Denise,[6] Milton's daughter
• Jade Quon as Jules, the alien
• Andy Daly as Aaron Campbell

Filming began in New Jersey on September 10, 2021.[7][8] Filming occurred in Boonton, New Jersey and Chatham, New Jersey.[9] The film entered post-production in February 2022.[10]

The film premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival on March 22, 2023.[11] In April 2023, Bleecker Street acquired North American distribution rights to the film, setting it for a theatrical release on August 11, 2023.[12]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 100 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Brought to life by an outstanding ensemble cast, Jules uses its cute concept to grapple with poignant, universally relatable themes."[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[14]

• Jules at IMDb