Here, finally, is a trailer for James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” which screened in competition at Cannes and had Gray — yet again — winning no awards. He hasn’t won a single thing at Cannes in the last 25 years, and that’s despite screening six films in competition.
This is very much a James Gray movie — romantic, old-fashioned, sometimes overly serious, but also capable of delivering some incredible suspense. The first half is probably the strongest, the middle gets a little bogged down in melodrama, but the final third is fantastic. Gray hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to creating tension.
Set in 1980s Queens and loosely based on events from Gray’s own childhood, the film stars Miles Teller as Irwin, an engineer who gets sucked into a toxic-waste scheme by his ex-cop brother Gary, played by Adam Driver. Gary promises easy money through a deal with Russian mobsters, and, of course, everything goes to hell.
There are a couple of sequences here that rank among Gray’s best filmmaking. One involves Irwin taking his two sons to Brooklyn to see the Russians at work, only for things to turn terrifying when the mobsters start threatening him and the kids. Another, later on, has intruders entering the family home in the middle of the night. Gray takes his time with the scene, filling the house with shadows and barely any sound. It’s almost like a horror movie. The climax is another terrific piece of suspense.
The cast is good, with Driver especially standing out. He plays Gary as this incredibly confident guy who thinks he can talk his way out of anything, even as he drags his entire family into a nightmare. Teller is solid too, particularly as Irwin slowly realizes what he’s gotten himself into. Scarlett Johansson may be the most divisive of the three. Some of her dialogue even got laughs at the Cannes screening, but her later scene at the doctor’s office is genuinely heartbreaking.
Ultimately, “Paper Tiger” is flawed, but I found much of it compelling. It’s Gray going back to the kind of gritty New York crime drama he does best, but I’m not entirely sure it will convert anyone who already dislikes his style.
Gray, 57, is a filmmaker with a loyal following, revered for his classically influenced style that echoes cinema’s golden eras. A native of Queens, Gray can be hit or miss, but when he’s on his game, with films like “Two Lovers” — arguably his finest work — and “The Lost City of Z,” a rare, haunting beauty seeps into every frame.
“Paper Tiger,” which hits theaters on November 20, sits at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 77 on Metacritic. The film will have its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival on September 25 at Lincoln Center.
Mukdeeprom is well known on the arthouse circuit for his work with Apichatpong Weerasethakul (“Memoria”), and he also shot three Guadagnino movies.