Ulee's Gold

Anti-establishment icon Peter Fonda is born to be mild in the latest drama from writer/director Victor Nunez (Ruby in Paradise). An eerie reminder of his father's angular elegance, Fonda limns a graceful, understated performance as Ulee Jackson, a brittle, xenophobic beekeeper trying to keep his family together after his wife's death and his son's incarceration. True to form, Nunez revels in a sometimes self-conscious, rhapsodic style, and the story trickles forth as languorously as, well, honey. Really, really thick honey. At times, the weak script brings the film to a veritable standstill, only to shake it awake with feverish, occasionally risible melodrama. Among the moments of inadvertent humor are Ulee's observations about his hymenopterous friends. "Best not to get me going on bees," the apiarist deadpans, and he's right.

Scattered here and there are some Homeric allusions -- "Ulee" is short for Ulysses, his wife is Penelope, his druggie daughter-in-law Helen -- meant to underscore the codger's odyssey from isolation to enlightenment. However, the film is at its best when no one says a word; a pinch of Fonda's brow or a twitch of his mouth conveys a lifetime of loneliness and ache. Whereas the plodding saga demands reserves of patience, it's Fonda's uncharacteristically evocative acting that will cause -- yes, it was inevitable -- a buzz. Opens Friday at the Avon and Jane Pickens.

-- Alicia Potter