James Gray’s low key yet visceral crime thriller is an emotionally mature and fresh take on the genre.
On the outside, the ninth feature film from director James Gray, Paper Tiger sounds like an unconvincingly generic genre flick. Two brothers chasing the American dream and getting caught in the crossfires of organised crime, endangering their wider family. But such is the vision of a seriously talented filmmaker that this subtle crime drama feels grounded and based in cold hard realism all whilst maintaining an unbearably tense and riveting style.
In 1980s New York engineer Irwin Pearl lives a comfortable but unremarkable life with his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and two teenage sons on the brink of adulthood Scott (Gavin Goudey) and Ben (Roman Engel). This is a typical American nuclear family but there’s an underlying yearning for more present throughout the family. But luckily for Irwin his brother Gary (Adam Driver) may have a lucrative opportunity. A former police officer and charismatic blagger perpetually suited and booted Gary is adored by his brother and the family. But Driver’s incredibly complex performance means Gary has a constant, uneasy flicker of the untrustworthy that snowballs into a situation that slowly starts to get more and more out of control.
Making the Brighton Beach area of New York look like a seedy and flickering dilution of sepia tones and autumnal hues with beautiful 35mm film there’s a consistently prominent atmosphere. This is achieved by inventive uses of shadow and precise, tense cinematography from Joaquín Baca-Asay matched with Gray’s smart and subtle direction. Gary has sorted a lucrative contract with a group of Russians where he can utilise Irwin’s engineer skills to advise on a cleanup operation, removing years worth of oil spillage in Brooklyn’s Gowanus canal. Irwin is a wide eyed puppy, ready to believe his brother and chase the life he wants and relax in the comfort of financial security as his kids head off to college.
The Russian’s seem a little intimidating but they’re just “paper tiger’s” , says Gary, all bark and no bite. But when Irwin gets overexcited and brings his sons to the site for an educational lesson he notices some shady business and tries to warn them. Safe to say things get very scary very quickly and the vicelike, oppressive grip of the Russian mafia soon starts to seep like the illegally dumped oil and stain the lives of Irwin, Gary and the entire family.
These two men both believe in the same things at core, they want to provide and help their loved ones and Gary has a protective, self-fulfilling idealisation of helping Gary’s family like they’re his own. The expertly layered and building level of terror never spills over into bombastic violence but Gray makes the leering presence of the enemy unpredictable and creepy in a weird, almost ritualistic way. The brothers’ relationship becomes strained in a way we don’t recognise as their normal, tenderly built love for each other. But there is a sense Gary has done stuff like this before and this is now the final and most catastrophic straw.
This is Miles Teller’s best work since Whiplash as he brings a neurotic and idealistic nervous energy around the usually calm but tightly coiled spring of his brother. Driver is the true star here, he is a myriad of unreadable calm one moment and explosive fury the next. Johansson’s Hester is the most disappointing and her motherly character is stereotypical, heading down a surprisingly melodramatic arc. She has got a lot of acting to do and she’s often too much which is never in keeping with the otherwise excellent flipped crime genre tone.
4.5 / 5
There’s an almost shakespearian level of heft to the themes of sacrifice and the urge to not only survive but thrive in Paper Tiger. And Driver gets one of the scenes of the year in the shadows of a patch of long, flowing reeds pointing to the retributive power of letting go and not admitting defeat but realising when to let go. Sometimes you’ve pushed your luck and charmed your way just a little too far.
