Union County

So often we see stories about addiction and coping with addiction, and so often these stories lack compassion.

That is not the case with the new film, Union County.

I have with me its writer-director, Adam Meeks, and its star, Will Poulter.

Guys, thanks so much for being here.

And what that stuff, those opening interactions in the film are our documentary interactions.

And so it was always the hope that it would be our kind of like our compassionate and empathetic lens into the story and into the community.

It's The Tree, and we're talking about the new film, Union County, with its writer-director, Adam Meekson, star Will Poulter.

And Will? I can't help but notice, and I think we talked about this a little bit at Sundance, that one of the things I think you have a real affinity for is showing how pride can get in the way of somebody's development.

We continue this hour of film conversations with an emotional indie feature set within a rural pocket of Ohio that was hard hit by the opioid epidemic.

It's called Union County.

The film follows a young man named Cody, who is in a court-mandated drug recovery program.

He's trying to rebuild his life.

They are professional actors.

The rest of the cast are real-life members of a local recovery group, and many scenes take place in a real drug court.

Union County is now screening at the IFC Center.

The film marks the first feature written and directed by Adam Meeks.

Warfare.

And then this year, Union County, I thought he was terrific.

Oh, you saw that already? performance i saw it at sundance and yeah i think he's been delivering increasingly strong dramatic performances will polter and he's he's gonna be due at some point and yeah gleason is is very strong as well i do feel bad for some of the cast members though you have some recognizable people and they don't get close-ups so they are freezing their heinies off Day after day after day, driving into the deep woods next to Bigfoot, probably hearing Bigfoot.

Bigfoot's probably out there.

I, you're, you're holding that stock.

Well, he's in, in Union County, the Will Poulter movie.

Mm-hmm.

He plays his brother in that movie.

Check out my new podcast, Back at the Movies.

We've got a special bonus episode up on the movie that took Sundance Film Festival by storm, Union County, starring Will Poulter and directed by Adam Meeks.

We got a chance to go to a screening for that, so spoiler-free, but this way you can listen to the show and see if it sounds like a movie that you might be interested in, whether it's worth a 30, 45-minute drive to go see it in the theater, or if you would rather wait for it to stream.

We are also gonna have a brand-new episode that should be up by the time you hear this on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, directed by Martin Scorsese.

This is a special week.

We've got two episodes, 'cause there's a bonus episode that dropped on Monday reviewing the new movie Union County.

It took Sundance by storm when it debuted in January there at the festival, and it's just gotten a limited release.

We do a spoiler-free review of the movie, give you an idea of whether it's worth going out of your way to see, because a lot of people are not gonna be super close to theaters that have it, 'cause it's in select theaters.

As a wise person once said, there's a lot I can't understand and a lot I don't know how to forgive.

Today, we're back at the movies for a very special bonus episode, talking the movie that took the 2026 Sundance Film Festival by storm, Adam Meeks' Union County, starring Will Poulter.

I'm Cody and I'm an addict.

I've been addicted to opiates since I was 17, and I'm part of the adult recovery court program, and so I'm here.

He's a member of SAG-AFTRA.

He's also a journalist and an MMA podcast, but he gets invited to a ton of screenings.

And so he texted me knowing that I had wanted to see the movie Union County, which made a lot of noise at the Sundance Film Festival.

It stars Will Poulter, who you may know from the TV show The Bear.

Let's talk about three really good movies that are opening this week.

First is Union County.

This is a drama that premiered at Sundance back in January.

Stars Will Poulter.

The thing about this movie is that director Adam Meeks sets it near where he lives in Ohio, and he gets people from a real drug court, both the people who went through it and staff who work there, to play themselves.

And that gives the movie an honesty that most movies about addiction just don't have.

So three and a half stars for Union County.

It's playing at the Broadway.