Will Poulter delivers as a drug addict trying to get clean.

The first film I watched from this year’s Sundance Film Festival was “Union County,” which deals with drug addicts, especially in a time of opioids. It’s a somber movie that is more into talking than the obligatory fightings and drug hallucinations. So, don’t expect any Darren Aronofsky or Gaspar Noe trips. Expect some human characteristics regarding those who can get clean, those who can’t, and those who need more help.

Will Poulter stars as Cody Parsons, a young opioid addict in Ohio, who is assigned to a county-mandated drug court program. At this point, he’s currently homeless-sleeping in his car, brushing his teeth with a jug of water, and doing his laundry outside in the woods-as the program’s men’s and homeless shelters are full. His foster brother Jack (Noah Centineo) is in the same program but is in worse shape when he fails his alcohol screening with only a couple of beers and can’t pay his fines. At least they both have jobs at a construction factory. But after a bad night of drugs which resorts in a car accident, Jack is placed in an intensive treatment center, while Cody now has a place at the sober house.

Besides Cody and Jack, we also hear from other people in the Adult Recovery Cort, even real members like Annette Deao are cast in this film. How drugs have ruined their lives and how some members were given a wake up call about how life can be better without them. And for those who can’t be in court in person, because they’re at an intensive treatment center, they’re given video chats. And on a final note, it was filmed in a real drug court, so you can sense some authenticity within the film.

There’s also Anna (Elise Kibler, whose background includes TV episodes for “Daredevil” and “The Night Agent”), who is in the same program and does peer support at the women’s house. After the program, they are respectively thinking of relocating to Columbus for better opportunities. Although, she does asks: “If everybody leaves, then who’s going to be here for the people who can’t?,” and even he agrees on that. And there are no guarantees of these two starting a romantic chemistry, because Anna also has a custody situation to deal with.

And we see the estranged relationship between Cody and his sister Katrina (Emily Meade), who doesn’t know if she can forgive him for breaking into her house to either steal stuff or to do drugs. And she was haunted seeing Jack in a hospital bed.

“Union County” should delve deeper inside this kind of sad world, because the subject matter should hit hard, but it does have a voice and acknowledges what’s underneath the surface. At this point, we’re more concerned about Cody and how he’s dealing with his own treatments and life choices. There are moments when we’re supposed to worry about what he’s doing in certain moments, and there are moments when he does make his speeches with sincerity and truth. And Poulter gives one of best performances in the ways he eases with this emotions and how he delivers the human characteristics in his character.

This is a sad movie, and not every addict will be able to recover or survive. But it’s also well-acted and drawn with convictions by up and coming writer/director Adam Meeks, who sets the recovery story in his hometown. And if Cody can keep moving forward, then you know “Union County” isn’t going to be cynical and unhappy. It wants to speak to those who need a second chance at life, and I’m no addict, but I can sense when a movie like this has a voice. It’s about triumphs overcoming these kind of messes.

In Select Theaters This Friday