See Chrissy Metz as a Mom Who Struggles with Addiction in Emotional 'Stay Awake' Trailer (Exclusive)

Stay Awake begins playing in theaters in New York City on May 19 and in Los Angeles May 25

Chrissy Metz's latest film looks to be a tearjerker.

On Thursday, MarVista Entertainment exclusively shared with PEOPLE the trailer for Stay Awake, an independent coming-of-age drama from filmmaker Jamie Sisley. The movie stars Metz, 42, as Michelle, a mother of two whose struggles with drug addiction take a toll on her relationships with sons Ethan (Wyatt Olef) and Derek (Fin Argus).

The trailer shows Ethan's hopes and dreams for a life in college quickly fade away as he and Derek find their mother relapsing with abuse of prescription drugs. During a hospital stay, a doctor warns Michelle that continued drug abuse could lead to her growing into "the anecdote [her sons] apologetically tell on first dates".

As Ethan and Derek check her into another rehab facility, the brothers wonder what life might be like if their mother actually stayed sober.

Related:This Is Us' Chrissy Metz and Boyfriend Bradley Collins Join Forces for New Children's Book, Album

An official synopsis for the film reads that Stay Awake is "a fictionalized account" of filmmaker Sisley's adolescence, depicting the characters' struggle "to get out from under the yoke of a prescription-drug-addicted mother in small-town Virginia."

Ethan and Derek consistently find themselves "stuck in a cycle of discovering their mom passed out, dragging her to the hospital, and encouraging rehab," in the film, the synopsis reads. "Despair quickly turns to hope and then boomerangs back again."

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A description of the movie on its official website describes the story as emblematic of "the roller coaster ride that families go on while trying to help their loved ones battle a disease that affects millions every day."

Filmmaker Sisley wrote and directed the movie, which premiered at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival. A 2015 short film of the same name by Sisley previously screened at the same festival.

Related:Chrissy Metz on Launching Her Music Career: I 'Want to Share My Heart and Soul'

"I think a lot of good can be done with a lot of movements when you just have people living and being who they are and not making more of it in a story or a film," Sisley wrote in a statement on the film's website. "I love it when story tellers don't call a lot of attention to aspects of life that shouldn't be (called attention to). The more we see people normalized, the better."

Aside from Oleff, Argus and Metz, the movie features performances from Albert Jones, Lorrie Odom, Cree Cicchino and Quinn McColgan.

Stay Awake begins playing in New York City May 19 and in Los Angeles May 25.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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