James Gray is a master at creating bleak, anxiety-inducing cinematic poems. His work is not exactly realistic, yet gritty and authentic to itself, often highly stylized, deliberately operatic, heavily influenced by Greek tragedy with beaucoup symbolism and gloomy-doomy foreshadowing. His best films— Little Odessa, The Yards — are deeply personal character studies set Queens, NY, where he grew up.
His latest film, Paper Tiger, which opened this year’s New York Film Festival and world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, combines all of the above, love it or rail against it. Or both.
Set in 1986, a time when the Russian mob were establishing a stranglehold in the borough, the film focuses on a middle class Jewish family—engineer Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller), sassy wife and mom Hester (Scarlett Johansson), their two sons, 17-year-old Scott (Gavin Goudey) and his younger sib, Benjamin (Roman Engel), as well as Irwin’s brother, Gary (Adam Driver), a cocky, retired cop.
Gary arrives on the family doorstep with two Peter Luger restaurant employees ready to serve a full steak dinner, so he can pitch an important business venture to his bro that involves consulting work on cleaning up the polluted Gowanus canal.
The Pearls are doing well, but with one son about to go off to college, extra funds are always needed. So, Irwin, apprehensively, agrees to “assess the risks,” despite the fact that the company they’ll be working for is Russian mafia-controlled. That’s his first mistake. More will follow, including taking both his sons to the site, late at night, where he witnesses something illegal that will put all their lives at risk, turn their worlds upside down and, ultimately, pitting brother against brother.
Gray opens his film with a quote from the Aeschylus play Agamemnon:
“Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.”
The idea that the desire for wealth—pursuing that elusive American Dream— leads to tragic circumstances is certainly true in Paper Tiger. Irwin’s mistake begins as a ‘wrong place/wrong time, misguided necessity to show off to your kids’ story. He is well aware that the Russians are dangerous, so why take such a risk? Hubris, of course, since we’re dealing with Greek tragedy themes—same for Gary thinking he could involve himself with soulless mobsters and not somehow get burned.
The film is unflinching in its austerity, yet the most compassionate of Gray’s films to date. You can feel the strong familial love and the solid sibling bond—until a choice must be made between the two.
I like Gray’s work. The grim nature of his films and the fact that we almost always know they will end tragically, are both a frustration and bizarre comfort.
He certainly knows how to put together a terrific ensemble, from Teller doing some of his best work, to Goudey and Engel, authentic sparring sibs who also deeply care for each other.
I was initially put off by Johansson’s Hester, with her messy curly locks, gigantic glasses, broad mannerisms and abrasive accent. But she began to endear herself to me and, as her world begins to come apart, her grace and quiet intensity floored me.
It’s Johansson’s best screen work to date.
Ditto, Driver.
There’s a tenderness that offsets Gary’s brash and proud demeanor that’s palpable. In the end, he completely redeems himself (how, I can’t say without a major spoil). And as much as Driver has impressed me in the past, his work here is his most nuanced and seemingly effortless.
Both are strong supporting Oscar candidates.
“My brother’s got the Midas Touch,” Irwin proudly says to Hester.
I had an uncle who lived in California who would come to town and, with his charismatic nature and cheery talk, charm my entire family. I saw him as the Pied Piper. I couldn’t wait for his infrequent visits. Only later, as I got older, would I realize that he was a flawed schemer. But I loved him, anyway. How could you not? Driver’s performance brought me right back to my childhood.
Paper Tiger is being released in select theater, by NEON, on November 13, 2026, followed by a nationwide rollout November 20, 2026.
Try and see it in 35mm, Gray’s preferred format.
