Beautiful and heartfelt, an oasis of humanity in a season of furious hyperbole.

Ulee's Gold stands out for its sureness, its quiet emotional force and writer-director Victor Nunez's ability to find and nurture the mystery and power in the events of an ordinary life.

Though it occasionally wears its metaphors on its sleeve, Ulee's Gold should, if there's any justice, find the same thoughtful-drama-hungry audience that made "Sling Blade" a hit.

Nunez finds a striking lyricism in simple lives that inspires an uncommonly fine cast and ranks him as a world-class filmmaker.

Fonda brings all of his childhood frustration and angst to the screen in one of the year's most unexpectedly brilliant acting performances.

The highest compliment I can offer Ulee's Gold is that it plays more like real life than a movie.

An emotionally honest low-ebber that builds to a satisfying wrap-up.

Nunez has a gift for finding the essence, the soul, of his actors.

Nunez is a master at rendering emotionally complex, ordinary folk into the kind of unassuming heroes that don't much appear in American films anymore.

The film becomes a modest delight.

Leisurely pacing of this kind is likely to register as a form of respect for the viewer's intelligence and observation.

Nunez's style is quiet, simple and deliberate, but the film never drags.

Peter Fonda's the bee's knees in the performance of his career.

Still, flaws and all, we have to be grateful to Nunez for persisting in his independence.