Jules

Milton is in his seventies and lives alone in a small Pennsylvania town. He says the same two things at every council meeting and nobody listens. One night a craft comes down in his garden and a small, silent creature climbs out. Milton names him Jules and takes him inside. Then two neighbours, Sandy and Joyce, learn the secret. The subject is not the alien but becoming invisible in old age. All three have the same problem: what they say is not taken seriously, their children treat them as forgetful, and nobody listens. Jules never speaks but he listens, and the whole feeling of the film sits in that difference. The form is small and calm: a kitchen, a porch, a garden. The science fiction is barely explained and the effects are kept to a minimum. It is a small independent production; the director Marc Turtletaub worked for many years as a producer and was among the people behind films including Little Miss Sunshine. Ben Kingsley plays the part almost entirely in silence. Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin play the neighbours. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet independent films about old age. Who it is not for: anyone expecting science fiction; the alien is a pretext and the film is not interested in him.