Ulee is a powerfully quiet beekeeper and widower raising his two grandchildren in northern Florida receives an urgent call from his estranged son who is serving out a term for armed robbery. Reluctantly, Ulee goes to visit and his son sends him on a mission to Orlando to retrieve his strung out wife who has fallen into the hands of two of his ex-cohorts. When Ulee arrives to pick her up, the two men have something more they want and now he must contend with all of these difficulties right in the heart of the harvest. "Ulee's Gold" is not only an absorbing film from writer/director Victor Nunez, it is also a courageous one as he elects to tell a fleshed out, paced story which to most studios means box office death. I liked the way the story takes its time and draws out a powerful performance out of Peter Fonda, who seems to be channeling the same types of methods his father used. Perhaps the story is too ruminant and contains too many bee metaphors, but the power of Fonda's performance and the lush photography and leisurely pace make "Ulee's Gold" a winner.
