Paper Tiger Review

Paper Tiger opens in theaters November 13.

With Paper Tiger, director James Gray returns to a milieu familiar from his first three movies – Little Odessa, The Yards, and We Own the Night – and delivers one of his strongest films in years.

At the heart of this slow burn crime drama – set in Queens, New York in 1986 – are two brothers, family man Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller) and his older brother Gary (Adam Driver), a swaggering former cop who comes to his younger sibling with a business proposition. Utilizing his ties to City Hall, Gary wants to launch a consulting firm offering their services to recently arrived Russian immigrants who have started a clean-up firm for the polluted Gowanus Canal.

Gary, the wheeler-dealer, would get the Russians hooked up with his connections while straight-shooter Irwin, an engineer, would advise them on how to keep the operation up to code. With Gary being bled dry in a divorce and Irwin considering his eldest son’s looming college tuition, this business venture seems like a win-win for both brothers. Unfortunately, these Russians are actually a mob front. When Irwin sees them doing something he shouldn’t have witnessed, he, his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and their two teenage boys are targeted.

Irwin and his family are not street-smart people. They’re a painfully ordinary, working-class family where the most dangerous thing they’ve seen is the revolver that ex-cop Gary keeps holstered to his ankle. Gary is essentially the serpent who enters their modest paradise, tempting Irwin to desire more than he already possesses. (The movie begins with a quote from Aeschylus: "Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.")

Gary is slick and has big ambitions, but he’s not a bad guy. As shady as he seems, it’s surprising to discover that, even when he was a cop, Gary possessed a moral compass. Adam Driver is, unsurprisingly, great here, revealing the complexities of a man who, like the titular paper tiger, may not be all that he blusters he is. Gary, who only allows his real vulnerabilities to be seen when alone, clearly loves his brother and extended family – even though he’s ultimately responsible for the danger they’re in. What he’s prepared to do about that puts him to the test.

Irwin is essentially impotent to protect his family, relying on Gary’s aid, who in turn thinks being a former cop will protect him. The Russians, though, aren’t La Cosa Nostra and Gary can’t cajole, bluff or bargain with these criminals the way he might have with the Gambinos once upon a time.

Ditching the bravado that marked his earlier roles, Miles Teller is a revelation as Irwin, a weak man trying to muster guts in a situation where he’s woefully out of his depth. He’s a schlub who makes dad jokes, not a guy who knows the ways of the street. Irwin here reminds me of Dustin Hoffman’s characters in Straw Dogs and Marathon Man, while Driver’s richly nuanced, “ain’t I a big man” performance is reminiscent of Gene Hackman or Robert Duvall’s work in their prime.

Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson gives one of her best performances as Hester, a New York housewife with big curly hair who runs a tight household – and is keeping a big secret from her husband and beloved sons. Johansson’s reaction in a scene where Hester learns some shocking news is utterly authentic and heartbreaking.

The fear that upends the Pearl family’s life is so palpable because it’s utterly alien to their bland, ordinary world. They’re ill-equipped for the peril they’re in, as highlighted by an incredibly creepy home invasion sequence where what you hear is more unnerving than what you can see.

Shot on 35mm film by cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay, Paper Tiger looks like it really was made in the 1970s or ‘80s, with its graininess and imperfections adding to its period authenticity. Likewise, production designer Happy Massee and costume designer Amy Roth succeed in making Paper Tiger feel lived-in and genuine. You can practically smell the ash trays and Brut cologne.