With the opioid epidemic continuing to rage across the country, movies about addiction have become all too commonplace. Sundance has been full of them the last few years, but most are about the euphoric highs and the crash that comes with hitting rock bottom, not so much about the tough sledding in-between. Adam Meeks’ Union County, an expansion of his acclaimed 2020 short film, is a compassionate drama about the hard road to recovery, and how that journey is peppered with small, individual choices that are made along the way.
Will Poulter stars, and is also a producer on Union County. It shows a commitment to the project that is mirrored in his performance. Gone is the handsome, muscular chef who has been stealing scenes on The Bear lately. Now he’s skinny, unkempt, a bit dirty, and fits so well within the drug-ravaged Bellefontaine, Ohio that he practically blends into the scenery. He plays Cody Parsons, who is enrolled in a court-mandated drug program, starting from the bottom at phase one. When we first meet him, he’s at one of the mandatory meetings with the county judge, to assess progress. Cody doesn’t have much to say. Little do we know that just a few feet away is his foster brother, Jack, played a Noah Centineo who has also gone the unshaven route. The judge notes this, and makes a fateful comment that he hopes the two brothers being in the same program can help them both find success.
Well, it’s not so easy. At first, Jack sort of appears to be the responsible one. He helps Cody land a job cutting wood in a factory. But after that, they also enable the other’s worst instincts. There are setbacks, crashed cars, broken family relationships (Emily Meade plays the poor, beleaguered sister who has seen enough), and potential love interests. There are also plenty of cliches that will ring very familiar to anyone who has seen their share of addiction dramas.
Meeks gets around this by scattering of non-professional actors, real-life addicts engaged in the program, and the support staff there to help them. Much of the film involves these people relating their stories and life experiences. Meeks has spent much of his young career working closely with the community and participants in the program. A Columbus, OH native who has seen the devastating impact of opioids, Meeks pays careful attention not to exploit anyone or diminish what they’ve been through. By the same token, Meeks emphasizes the program’s process, noting its failures equally with its successes. The system is imperfect, and where it might fail one person, another can get through it and find a second chance at a clean life.
Meeks’ storytelling is quiet, observational, and deeply human. Cody is someone carrying around a lot of guilt, and it’s made him fearful to connect with anyone, afraid that he will hurt them the way he has hurt others while in the grip of addiction. Poulter, his shoulders slumped down and his normally dazzling blue eyes a dull grey, gives a performance free of the histrionics that often accompany this subgenre. It fits with Meeks’ delicate approach, which follows Cody closely as he considers every move he makes, wary of the potential consequences. Even so, there are times when Cody acts thoughtlessly, and he must face the repercussions of those choices.
But that’s the point Meeks is trying to make with Union County. Recovery isn’t something anyone can do easily, nor can they do it alone. Sometimes, it takes an entire community, people with full hearts, a lot of patience, and plenty of understanding.
