Courtesy of Neon
James Gray's Paper Tiger is a crime drama that doesn't pretend to be anything fancier. I went in wondering whether there was a deeper statement underneath, and the answer is that it's a very well-made film about two brothers and the people they're trying to protect. Once you know where it comes from, that turns out to be the point.
The setup. It's the 1980s, in New York. Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller) is an engineer and a family man. His brother Gary (Adam Driver) is an ex-NYPD detective with a scheme: a business arrangement with Russian businessmen along the Queens waterfront. That territory used to belong to the mafia, and now it doesn't. Gary presents it as plain business, legitimate people and a legitimate opportunity. It isn't, and the film's tension comes from watching both brothers realize how much more there is to these men.
The changing of the guard. This is the film's real subject, and it works as a message in a bottle from a moment when organized crime in New York changed hands. The mafia gives way to something newer, more global, and less interested in the old rules. It reminded me of The Last Living Pickpocket in New York, which also looked at crime changing its face. That film worked at the petty level. This one plays at the top, where the money crosses borders. Two men are caught in the handoff. One is innocent, one has dirty hands, and the question is how to fix it.
Gray's own history. The film is reportedly drawn from Gray's own family's run-in with the Russian mafia in 1980s New York. That fits his career. He debuted with Little Odessa, a Russian-mob story, and Armageddon Time was a 1980s Queens childhood picture. Knowing that, Paper Tiger reads less like a genre exercise and more like him finally dealing with something close to home.
The performances. Driver is the reason to see it. It's one of his best, controlled and compromised, a man who has to know better and keeps proceeding anyway. Teller steps back and lets Irwin be what he is, an awkward, naive father, and that restraint is the right choice. Scarlett Johansson, as Linda, is convincing as a period mom, worried sick about her kids and carrying a secret the film is smart enough not to rush.
Gray's father films. Ad Astra was a son reaching for a father. Paper Tiger flips it: this is about being a father, and a brother. The two men are trying to shield Irwin's two boys from what's coming, and that is the emotional spine.
The craft. It's shot beautifully, and the intense scenes land. Gray knows how to let dread build in a room.
The verdict. I wouldn't call it Best Picture material, and it isn't trying to be. It's a crime drama and a family drama, and a damn good one. If you're after a really good crime drama, you don't get much better.
[Rating TBD]