Union County, a film I had the opportunity to watch virtually during the Sundance Film Festival this past January, is coming out to wider audiences this month!
Since this film was based on and filmed in Ohio, early screenings were being made available this past weekend accompanied by Q&A sessions with the writer/director and some of the cast! And I was lucky enough to attend one of those viewings offered in the Cleveland area! When I got there I knew I wanted to sit close for the Q&A, which would be happening after the screening, but perhaps I sat a little too close. It made my neck a bit sore during the film, so I was thankful it’s just over 90 minutes.
Watching the film again for the second time, I really was taken with how interesting this film was. Called Union County, it was filmed in the actual Union County in southern Ohio, where we meet two foster brothers who are working through a sober living program after serving time for drug use. Now, those brothers are fictionally played by Will Poulter as Cody, our main protagonist, and Noah Centineo as Jack. While they are fictional, virtually every other “actor” in this film are real life participants of the county mandated drug court program. That also includes the judge and chemical dependency counselor. The latter is Annette Deao, who had perhaps the most difficult role of the film, which involved her both doing her job, but also acting alongside Will and Noah at various times. She’s truly sensational on screen!
The film starts off with Cody, who’s just been released from prision and it starting the drug court program. Being short on housing, he spends some time living in his car, but he has a job constructing pallets with Jack. The brothers spend time together at a party, and eventually get some more drugs together. Starting over almost immediately was a surprise to me, but the drug court program is serious and dedicated to helping these people get their lives right. As we all know, it’s not an easy road, and some don’t prevail, but it was really grounding to see Cody’s journey. His sister in the film seems to be another huge trigger point for him in the film. As he continues on with the program, he realizes that he caused a lot of harm and grief for her, and he also realizes he’s the one who set Jack off on the path of chemical dependency.
As much as you want these films to have a happy ending, that’s not always the case. Cody does find a semblance of peace, but the road is a bumpy one. I also found that I loved watching the other participants in the film get to tell their success stories, or just general journies on screen. That’s really brave of them to do! There were definitely some tears near the end of the film. And even though I’ve seen this once before, I had to do a few hard sniffs before the lights came up, too. it truly is a great film that takes such a unique look at this community of people.
One of the questions in the Q&A mentioned that the finding and acquiring of drugs were scenes that were almost done in a brief but haunting way. Adam Meeks said that he did not want to keep feeding into stereotypes that people are already so familiar with. Instead he wanted to tell the story of these recovery programs. He wanted to show people what they were like, and how a lot of them have people that really care about seeing these people get back up on their feet and living drug-free. I thought all of the questions during the Q&A were well thought-out and answered, but I’m sad I didn’t have the nerve to get up an ask what it was like premiereing the film at Sundance. Either way, this was an awesome experience!
