James Gray‘s new film, Paper Tiger, opens with the following quote from father of ancient Greek tragedy, Aeschylus (Agamemnon): Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.
That is the ominous warning we are about to enter a world with characters who may not realize the true meaning of wealth in their lives, and in this case it clearly is family.
Gray’s film premiered in competition at Cannes tonight, his sixth (!) time and shamefully yet to win a prize at this festival. Paper Tiger may just change that – big time. I hope it does. He is long overdue and this little gem is proof positive of that.
This noirish crime drama set in 1986 in Gray’s beloved Queens is that good. Originally conceived as a kind of follow up to his previous film, 2022’s Armageddon Time, the story morphed into something completely original, connected only with Queens and a specific period, but now a gripping story centered on two brothers caught up over their heads with the Russian mafia, a no-brainer idea that turns very dark as American dreamer Gary Pearl (Adam Driver) an ex-cop shows up at his brother Irwin’s (Miles Teller) house with a proposition to use Irwin’s engineering talents to work his magic on the burgeoning Gowanus Canal, a project involving several Russian “businessmen” for which there will be a big payoff. Gary has sold them on this deal and now has to make it happen.
Before we get to that point we meet Irwin, his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) , and their two sons Scott (Gavin Goudey) and Benjamin (Roman Engel), a seemingly loving and normal family living happily in the suburbs of Queens. To the kids Driver’s dynamic presence is just Uncle Gary, but he is a smooth talker who convinces Irwin this may be the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance for some real money. Irwin finally agrees to join up, and what he thought might be a cinch to pull off turns bad quickly as he decides to check out the operation with his boys in tow one night and is confronted by some very hardcore Russians, first pulling a knife on the boys who are left in the car, and then himself. As things start to go very wrong with Gary falling deeper in debt to the Russians and threats made to the family in scary ways, there is another crisis looming for the Pearls. Hester secretly has been worrying about her health and in a visit to the doctor learns she needs surgery and has maybe only a year to live. She keeps this news from her husband, quietly panicked about the prospect of leaving her tight knit family without a mother.
This story which keeps you engaged at every turn is superbly crafted by Gray who knows how to twist a crime genre tale into something fresh and pulse pounding. He also realizes having a stake in these very recognizable characters is key to all of it working as well as it does, and casting actors on the level of Driver, Johansson, and Teller makes this soar. In fact this is some of the finest screen work for all three.
Driver’s smoothly confident dreamer masks a man who jumps in before he should, convinced this is the moment he wins big. Driver brilliantly shows us the surface while slowly and subtly suggesting that underneath he may realize this was no sure thing. As his relationship with the Russians, particularly the take-no-prisoners boss, Semion Bogoyavich (a perfect Victor Ptak) starts to come unglued we can see, even with the skills of an ex-police officer, that he may have met his match despite all his bravado. Teller beautifully plays your average dad, a family man to his core roped into events beyond his control. And quite frankly Johansson has never been better as a Queens mom and wife privately cracking but keeping it hidden from her family.
With stunning cinematography from Joaquin Baca-Asay, individual scenes really pop including a thrilling cat and mouse chase as Gary tries to evade Russians tailing him and loses himself in a tall deserted wheatfield, weaving in out of this maze as we eventually see his pursuers doing the same, shot both within and above this visually striking location and reminiscent of Cary Grant being chased by a cropduster in North By Northwest. This just may be the single finest scene Gray has ever staged. I was on the edge of my seat. Christopher Spelman’s great score, and Scott Morris’ first rate editing also nail it . The period details overall of a time when the Russian/American connection was taking on new dimension are also right on the money.
My personal favorite films of Gray’s , two that have stuck with me and never left, are The Lost City Of Z and Two Lovers, vastly different movies showing the range of this filmmaker who is a true original. Paper TIger, a title that works ironically on many levels, is right up there with the very best he has ever done.
Gray is also a producer in addition to 9 others, and 31 additional Executive Producer and Co-Executive Producer credits. It is not easy getting indie movies made. This one is worth it.
Title: Paper Tiger
Festival: Cannes – Official Competition
Distributor: Neon
Director/Screenplay: James Gray
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller, Gavin Goudey, Roman Engel, Yavor Vesselinov, Victor Ptak.
Running Time: 1 hour and 54 minutes
English (US) ·