Jules: You Won’t Be “Alienated”

What would you do if you were a socially-isolated senior citizen, lived in a rural town, and an alien spaceship suddenly crash-landed in your backyard, without anyone else in town being aware of this?  Would you inform the town at the next city council meeting, tell the police, or contact the FBI?  If you did, would they just think you were nuts and blow you off? Milton Robinson (a terrific, as usual, Ben Kingsley) is in his 70's.  His son lives far away and they are estranged.  He is probably a widower, although he could be divorced.  He has mild cognitive decline, and his daughter, Denise (Zoe Winters), checks up on him frequently.  The spaceship crash-lands in his backyard, but nobody believes him.  The alien is wounded and Milton decides to help him recover and names him "Jules" (Jade Quon).  Two older women in town, Sandy (Harriett Sansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin), soon discover that Milton is hosting an alien.  They all agree to keep it a secret and help Jules to repair his ship and escape Earth, before the FBI captures him. Jules is a friendly alien, although not an especially adept conversationalist.  He likes to draw pictures, especially of cats.  The film primarily is about how Milton, Sandy, and Joyce bond and reduce their isolation by helping Jules.  Although primarily a drama, there are also some very funny scenes. Robin and I enjoyed the movie and we thought it was heart-warming and sweet.  It's only 90 minutes, which was just right.  The film is also a social commentary about how seniors are not taken seriously and how isolated seniors are, despite social media and video calling.  It will work fine as a rental, but there isn't much out there now except "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie," so, if you want to go to the theater, this might be the next best picture out there now. Bottom Line: It's not "E.T." or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," but it will take you on a "Short'N'Sweet" ride!