The right mix of true and imagined can give the simplest of humane narratives — in this case, the possibility of renewal in an epidemic of hurt — a fresher chance to touch us.

This riveting mix of fact and fiction puts real opioid addicts in competition with actors to see who can play addiction best. It’s no contest.

[It] succeeds as an intimate story about addicts fighting inner demons that ended many lives, but also as austere cinematic object that draws on cinema’s past for inspiration but never feels imitative or coldly theoretical.

It’s a well-crafted, quietly compelling movie that could have been better: Good as he is, Poulter’s character lacks much definition, which is something you could say for the arguably over-restrained screenplay as a whole.