By Richard Ades
When drug addicts show up on the big screen, you generally see them making a series of unwise choices as their lives change from bad to worse. They seem either unwilling or unable to fight the habit that’s dragging them down.
That’s what makes Union County so unique.
The Ohio-based film shows victims of rural America’s opioid epidemic actually making the effort to escape their addiction and get their lives under control. It’s a difficult task, but they have the advantage of being supported by a legal system that’s focused on helping rather than punishing them.
Written and directed by Adam Meeks, the drama centers on Cody Parsons (Will Poulter), who became addicted to opiates when he was still a teenager. Years later, he’s already spent time in prison and is living out of his car when he finds himself in front of a drug court.
There, he’s faced with a judge who practices tough love by enrolling him in an adult recovery program. Stay clean and follow the rules, he’s told, and you’ll keep your freedom. Break the rules, and you could end up back behind bars.
All this might sound Pollyannish compared to the more typical Hollywood take on addiction, but Meeks based the story on an actual drug court in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Adding to the realism, many of the “actors” are local residents who are connected to the court’s recovery program as either officials or recovering addicts.
Especially prominent is Annette Deao, who essentially plays herself as the program’s kind-hearted director. Like the film’s other amateur actors, she nails the part, never allowing a hint of artifice to creep into her portrayal.
The same can be said for the professional cast, starting with Poulter, who imbues Cody with the dazed demeanor of a man whose life has slipped out from under him. (It also must be said that, despite being English, Poulter delivers his lines with an accent indistinguishable from those of his rural Ohio co-stars.)
Cody Parsons (Will Poulter) waits his turn to face the judge in a rural Ohio drug court.
A second key role is played by Noah Centineo as Cody’s foster brother, Jack, who’s also in the recovery program. Unlike his brother, unfortunately, Jack doesn’t even pretend to follow the program’s rules, and he seems capable of dragging Cody down with him.
Completing the dysfunctional family, Emily Meade portrays Cody’s sister, Katrina, who is justifiably angry at him for reasons that eventually come out.
Even under ideal circumstances, addictions are tough to beat, and Cody’s unstable family relations and living situation are hardly ideal. That makes it all the harder for him to deal with any setbacks that arise.
And they do arise.
If you want to read a message into Meeks’s film, it’s that recovery from addiction is incredibly hard, but it might be possible if the individual is determined enough, and if the legal system is compassionate enough to provide support rather than merely punishment.
But if you don’t want to read a message into Union County, just appreciate it for what it is: an exquisitely written, filmed and acted drama about a man’s struggle to save himself and about the people who are kind enough to help him.
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Union County opens Aug. 13 at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio.
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