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Opening in theaters on November 13th is the new crime drama 'Paper Tiger,' written and directed by James Gray ('Ad Astra'), and starring Adam Driver ('Star Wars: The Force Awakens'), Miles Teller ('Top Gun: Maverick'), and Scarlett Johansson ('Black Widow').
Related Article: Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Director James Gray Talk 'Paper Tiger'
Initial Thoughts
With 2022’s ‘Armageddon Time’ and now his latest film, ‘Paper Tiger,’ writer-director James Gray has returned in a way to his roots. After spending a couple of ambitious movies in the jungles of the Amazon and in outer space, Gray is now doing the kind of low-key character dramas, set in the late 20th century, that he began his career with – and the results with ‘Paper Tiger’ make for one of his strongest efforts to date.
In fact, ‘Paper Tiger’ may also be his most personal film to date, with aspects drawn from his own life. Adam Driver and Miles Teller star as two brothers, born and raised in New York City, whose plans to work together on a potentially lucrative urban renewal project run afoul of criminal elements, putting them and their family members in danger. It’s a tense, potent, at times explosive film, peppered with terrific suspense and drama, and not even a handful of minor plot contrivances can’t undermine its texture and tragedy.
Story and Direction
Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller) is an unassuming engineer who lives with his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and their two sons in a modest yet comfortable house in Queens. It’s 1986, and Irwin – who seems to just about make ends meet but yearns for a bigger comfort zone financially – is swept up into a business deal with his hipper, flashier brother Gary (Adam Driver), a now retired cop who wants his younger brother to be his partner on a potentially lucrative plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal and develop it as both commercial and residential property.
But Gary’s deal brings the brothers into business with the emerging Russian mafia, which is just starting to gain footholds in America as the Iron Curtain falls and more Russians pour into the States. And when Irwin naively sees members of the crew led by a menacing Russian crime lord doing something they shouldn’t be doing at the Canal, that places him, his sons, and Hester directly in danger, a situation that Gary promises he can sort out – but which becomes increasingly complicated.
As with many of his film, James Gray places the viewer immediately into the time and place in which ‘Paper Tiger’ is set, shooting in parts of Queens and Brooklyn that don’t appear much different today than they did 40 years ago. He and cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay use practical lighting, vintage lenses and deliberately underexposed 35mm film to create a look that is both hazy and gritty, capturing both the drab but warm interiors of Irwin and Hester’s house and the rundown urban wasteland around the Gowanus.
Danger is present everywhere, escalating as the film moves forward and embodied by a frightening dead-of-night scene at the Gowanus, a shadowy home invasion, and a pursuit in a field of tall grass that are three of the most suspenseful sequences Gray has ever pulled off.
The immersive nature of the film is matched by the clarity and drive of much of its plot, with the somewhat gullible, mild-natured Irwin seduced by Gary’s confidence and cockiness, and both men finding themselves in an ever-tightening noose of danger that casts a miasma of dread over their entire existence. Hester, meanwhile, is the voice of reason and conscience, asking the questions that neither brother can satisfactorily answer, until she herself is faced with a crisis that she can’t avoid and ultimately can’t manage.
There can come a moment in a movie, a poor storytelling decision that jolts you out of its spell, and ‘Paper Tiger’ is saddled with two of those. The first is early in the film and essentially the inciting incident that brings about the clash with the Russians, a decision by Irwin that on its face makes no real sense. The second is a choice that Hester makes late in the movie to withhold certain information from her family. It’s a trope that’s been played out in other films and, again, makes no sense for either the character or the story. While both these moments punch tiny holes in Gray’s otherwise sharp script, ‘Paper Tiger’ and its characters are still absorbing enough to withstand them.
Cast and Performances
That’s a good thing because Gray’s main cast here delivers when it comes to portraying those complex characters. Adam Driver is in excellent form as Gary -- cocky, full of bravado and also perhaps a tad insecure about his place in the world after retiring. His dawning realization of the trouble he’s in and the avenues to fix it being closed off to him add up to one of Driver’s best performances.
Miles Teller also impresses here with his work as Irwin, starting out as gullible and fearful, but throwing caution to the wind with disastrous consequences. The destruction of his relationship with his brother is tragic. The aftermath is called out right from the start by Hester, in one of Scarlett Johansson’s best onscreen portrayals, accurate down to the hair (set in curlers every night), wardrobe, and voice. Kudos also to the naturalism of the Pearls’ young sons and the sheer menace of Victor Ptak as a terrifying yet crafty Russian mob boss.
Final Thoughts
The phrase ‘they don’t make ‘em like that anymore’ comes up a lot in modern cinema, and in the case of ‘Paper Tiger’ it rings true. This is a film that’s very comfortable and effective in its ‘70s/’80s aesthetic. While Gray’s leisurely pacing and a couple of those story missteps may throw one off, ‘Paper Tiger’ is still an intense, gripping thriller with a surprisingly personal and intimate character study at its heart.
‘Paper Tiger’ receives a score of 82 out of 100.
What is the plot of ‘Paper Tiger’?
A naïve engineer, Irwin (Miles Teller), accepts a seemingly lucrative business proposition from his brother, Gary (Adam Driver), a former cop. But when Irwin witnesses something he wasn’t meant to see, the brothers and Irwin’s wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) find themselves pulled into a dangerous confrontation with the newly emerging Russian mafia.
Who is in the cast of 'Paper Tiger'?
- Adam Driver as Gary Pearl
- Scarlett Johansson as Hester Pearl
- Miles Teller as Irwin Pearl
- Gavin Goudey as Scott Pearl
- Roman Engel as Ben Pearl
- Victor Ptak as Semion Bogoyavich
- Cindy Katz as Iris Belfer
- Yavor Vesselinov as Alexei Yunov
- Joel Marsh Garland as Lt. Stan Durkheim
List of James Gray Movies:
- 'Little Odessa' (1995)
- 'The Yards' (2000)
- 'We Own the Night' (2007)
- 'Two Lovers' (2009)
- 'The Immigrant' (2014)
- 'The Lost City of Z' (2017)
- 'Ad Astra' (2019)
- 'Armageddon Time' (2022)
- 'Paper Tiger' (2026)
