The gripping, exquisitely foreboding dramas of James Gray reside in the dark space between the American dream and gutting reality. His brilliant new thriller, set in 1986 Queens and Brooklyn, is an authentically drawn New York story and a master class in escalating tension, charting the tragic domestic fallout after family man and engineer Irwin (Miles Teller), who aspires to middle-class comforts, is pulled into a shady deal by his brother Gary (Adam Driver), a former NYPD cop. Gary thinks he can make a killing on a scheme with Russian criminals dumping oil down by the Gowanus Canal, assisting them to work around regulations — instead Gary ends up endangering his brother, as well as Irwin’s sons (Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel) and wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson), who is going through her own private crisis. Torn between brotherly love and marital loyalty, Irwin discovers he’s ensnared in forces far beyond his control. With its vivid period detail and marvelous, deeply moving trio of lead performances, PAPER TIGER is a frightening portrait of pollution in all forms — and the human bonds that can save us from the brink of despair. (Synopsis from the New York Film Festival)
“A remarkably knowing and perceptive film about how family is, and has always been, the ultimate devil’s bargain…. Gray is no stranger to saga about fraternal strains, but never has he so forcefully tugged at the ties that bind, or more sensitively observed how they can suffocate an entire family when a certain force pulls on them hard enough.” —David Ehrlich, IndieWire “Old school in the best way, the kind of movie so many American directors have forgotten how to make, if they ever learned in the first place…. PAPER TIGER is almost everything you could want in a grown-up movie. It’s the kind of picture you make, maybe, when you see the landscape around you narrowing instead of expanding. Your choices? Go big or go home. With PAPER TIGER, Gray does both.” —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine “This is not a propulsive gangster thriller, and anyone looking for pure genre velocity may find its restraint challenging. But the movie’s power lies in the way it lets unease seep into domestic spaces…. The craft is controlled throughout, but never cold; Gray’s command is formal, yet the picture remains deeply attuned to the damage gathering beneath each choice.” —Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
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