Jules Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Jules Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf October 23, 2023

In 2018’s “Puzzle,” director Marc Turtletaub worked to create a special atmosphere of humanity with a story that’s usually fodder for clichéd entertainment. The film explored the quirky world of competitive puzzling, and while the premise invited a shallow sense of personality, Turtletaub handled it carefully, making for a sensitive picture. “Jules” is about an alien visitation in a rural, older Pennsylvania town, and it’s another tale that seems like a launching point for silly business, or perhaps something along the lines of 1985’s “Cocoon.” Once again, Turtletaub generally avoids the obvious, with “Jules” a deeper examination of aging and loneliness, and it just so happens to have a little blue creature in it. Screenwriter Gavin Steckler pairs real characters with an extraordinary situation, emerging with a thoughtful understanding of needs, blended with some mild comedic beats that connect as intended, sold with terrific performances.

In Boonton, PA, Milton (Ben Kingsley) is a senior citizen who lives by himself, working with a tight routine of gardening and television, tended to by his daughter, Denise (Zoe Winters), who’s growing concerned about her father’s lapses in memory. Milton just wants his independence, occasionally crossing paths with other residents, such as Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtain), but his isolated existence is interrupted one night by a flying saucer that crashes into his backyard. Emerging from the ship is Jules (Jade Quon), a silent, short blue alien who offers a blank stare and loves apple slices. Milton welcomes Jules into his home, trying to connect with the visitor, with Sandy and Joyce soon joining the club, looking to communicate with an unlikely guest. While government forces search for a fallen “satellite,” Milton attempts to help Jules with ship repairs, trying to be of service to the alien, who’s brought a lot of excitement and personal reflection into his life.

Milton’s daily business keeps the older man occupied, filling out his day by tending to his flowers and keeping up with cable news and reruns of “C.S.I.” “Jules” also studies his behavior at city council meetings, using his time to request improvements from his home town. Milton is joined by Sandy, a more outgoing person, and Joyce, a slightly sour one, and he’s monitored by Denise, a veterinarian who’s trying to stay ahead of her father’s developing dementia, gently nudging him into a doctor’s visit for a proper diagnosis. There’s another child, Tim, who isn’t connecting with Milton, and this fractured relationship plays a more profound role later in the film. Turtletaub gracefully handles introductions and backstory, filling in pieces of Milton’s life before his entire world changes with the arrival of the alien, with the old man more upset about his damaged flowers than the presence of a blue creature on his back porch.

“Jules” has every opportunity to get wacky, bringing in an unnervingly silent E.T. with comforting eyes to disrupt Milton’s world of solitude. There’s humor, but not broadness, as Turtletaub keeps the blunt presence of Jules in play, finding Sandy and Joyce shocked to meet the visitor, only to become friendly with it, finally encountering someone who’ll sit patiently and listen to them. It’s contact, with the trio becoming protective of Jules, who snacks on apples and leaves drawings of cats for Milton. Some time is spent at the National Security Center, with the organization monitoring for signs of alien life, but “Jules” doesn’t pursue manhunt mode. Instead, it aims to understand the fragile lives of the characters, as Sandy is desperate for company, Joyce loves an audience, and Milton is confronted with a harsh reality of memory loss, facing a future of assisted living.

Jules Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

"Jules" is offered on a BD-R with an AVC encoded image (2.00:1 aspect ratio) presentation. Artifacting is an issue, with banding flaring up at times. Clarity is generally strong, exploring aged faces and the alien appearance of Jules. Household interiors showcase decorative additions, and exteriors are deep, traveling around the small-town setting and examining the backyard spaceship mess. Colors are alert, with strong primaries on clothing and paint choices. The blueness of Jules is intact. Warmer sunlit interiors are also present. Delineation struggles some, but solidification is rare.

Jules Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix provides fresh dialogue exchanges, capturing bigger comic beats and softer emotionality. Scoring cues are crisp, with sharp instrumentation, occasionally pushing out to the surrounds, which also do well with atmospherics and room tone. Some panning effects are encountered, especially with spaceship movement, which also adds some rumble to the low-end. Sound effects are clear.

Jules Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "Jade Becoming Jules" (7:12, HD) is a brief look at the creation of the eponymous alien. Prosthetic makeup department head Joshua Turi welcomes viewers to the process of turning actress Jade Quon into Jules, with the performer forced to endure four hours of application time every day. Quon (who provides answers while in full alien makeup, sitting on-set) explores the patience required for the job, also identifying performance choices and character beats.

• A Trailer has not been included on this release.

Jules Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Steckler delicately mixes the pains of life and the mystery of Jules, and it certainly helps to have such a talented cast to portray complicated realities, with Kingsley working to find the dimensions of Milton, who's handling great regret under his practiced stoniness. Jules is also an interesting figure, with the alien revealing more powers as the story progresses, and it has a highly specialized form of fuel it requires to help fix its ship, leading to some darkly comedic moments. "Jules" is an odd one all around, but Turtletaub doesn't submit to peculiarity, staying on the acting and its depth, keeping the whole endeavor rooted in a warmer sense of communication and small surprises, making for a pleasingly unusual and genuinely felt feature.