Set against the murky industrial waterfront of 1986 New York, James Gray’s crime drama “Paper Tiger” opened in select U.S. theaters on Friday through NEON.
The film explores the dangerous ambitions of ordinary people through the lens of two brothers in Queens.
Gary Pearl (Adam Driver) is a swaggering retired police officer turned security consultant who approaches his younger brother Irwin (Miles Teller) with a lucrative business proposal, as reported by IGN. Operating along the polluted Gowanus Canal, the brothers aim to advise companies on legal environmental compliance, exploiting a shifting power structure as Russian businessmen muscle out the traditional Mafia.
While Irwin strives to provide for his family alongside his wife Hester, Gary’s reassuring bluster masks severe underlying risks. “We’ve never played in the dirt,” Gary tells Irwin, according to KQED, dismissing suspicions about the true nature of their new associates.
Their household includes two boys, Scott and Ben, played by Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel. Irwin is an engineer accustomed to a modest lifestyle, while Gary sports expensive Italian suits, drives a Mercedes, and carries a revolver in an ankle holster.
The narrative draws heavily on personal history for director James Gray, serving as a thematic companion to his 2022 semi-autobiographical film “Armageddon Time,” which was set in the same neighborhood of Fresh Meadows in 1980.
Rolling Stone said that the project functions as a Greek tragedy with an outer-borough accent, opening with a quotation from Aeschylus’ play “Agamemnon:” “Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.”
As The New Republic points out, the title applies equally to Irwin’s lack of true leverage and Gary’s overstated bravado in the underworld.
Following its limited release, NEON is expanding the distribution of “Paper Tiger” to theaters nationwide on November 20, 2026. The production features cinematography by Joaquin Baca-Asay shot on 35mm film, production design by Happy Massee, and costume design by Amy Roth.
