Persuasive Gary talks his younger engineer brother Irwin into jointly bidding for an urban renewal project. Irwin’s naivety sparks a violent spiral from their Russian silent partners. Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller give great nuance to this thriller of a suburban family’s complicated aspirations to hit pay dirt.

2026
Paper Tiger
Paper Tiger
Director
Runtime
115 Minutes
Country
United States
Classification
Unclassified 15+
Running a modest engineering business, Irwin’s (Teller) only real worry is how to pay for his teenage sons’ college education. Irwin’s smooth older brother Gary (Driver) has been the family success story and is now turning his stellar police reputation into a career in private enterprise. Gary talks his young brother into combining their skills into a lucrative urban regenerative project. Initially reluctant, Irwin’s eventual enthusiasm to be part of something bigger sets off a chain of events with the potential to lead them all into ruin. Both supporting and challenging Irwin through all of this is his wife Hester (Johansson), a fierce Jewish mother destined to become a side story in her own crises. Reminiscent of the great American mid-century dramas, Paper Tiger pits a 1980s aspirational suburban New York family against the Russian mob. Stellar performances from Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller turns what could have been a too familiar confrontation into a gripping thriller centred on brotherhood – its comforts, its limitations and its time-honoured potential for betrayal.
“It’s a meaty drama with big scenes and big but carefully considered performances: a really substantial piece of work from Gray.”
The Guardian
“James Gray’s ninth feature finds him returning to the milieu of his early pictures, delivering a textured crime drama involving Russian mobsters and a dysfunctional Queens family.”
Screen Daily
Cannes
Sydney
New York
Film Credits
Director
James Gray
Year
2026
Country
United States
Language
English
Type
Feature Fiction
Program Strand
Special Presentations
Producer
Victoria Castelli
Writer
James Gray
Cinematographer
Joaquín Baca-Asay
Editor
Scott Morris
Cast
Adam Driver, Miles Teller & Scarlett Johansson
Music
Christopher Spelman
Genre
Crime, Drama & Suspense
