Main Slate
Paper Tiger
James Gray
Opening Night · North American Premiere
Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson star in James Gray’s brilliant New York thriller, charting the tragic fallout after a family man is pulled into a shady scheme with Russian criminals by his former cop brother.
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Country
- U.S.
- Language
- English
- Year
- 2026
- More information
- Official film page
Screenings
Get pre-sale access to Paper Tiger and more with a Premier, Bronze, or Gold Pass! On sale now in limited quantities.
The gripping, exquisitely foreboding dramas of James Gray reside in the dark space between the American dream and gutting reality. His brilliant new thriller, set in 1986 Queens and Brooklyn, is an authentically drawn New York story and a master class in escalating tension, charting the tragic domestic fallout after family man and engineer Irwin (Miles Teller), who aspires to middle-class comforts, is pulled into a shady deal by his brother, Gary (Adam Driver), a former NYPD cop. Gary thinks he can make a killing on a scheme with Russian criminals dumping oil down by the Gowanus Canal, assisting them to work around regulations; instead Gary ends up endangering his brother, as well as Irwin’s sons (Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel) and wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson), who is going through her own private crisis. Torn between brotherly love and marital loyalty, Irwin discovers he’s ensnared in forces far beyond his control. With its vivid period detail and marvelous, deeply moving trio of lead performances, Paper Tiger is a frightening portrait of pollution in all forms—and the human bonds that can save us from the brink of despair. A NEON release.
“I’m immensely grateful to be welcomed back to this remarkable festival. This deeply personal film is rooted in New York City; from my upbringing to life-changing family experiences. To be here, at the heart of art and cinema, with our cast and crew—many of whom are New Yorkers—is a privilege. Thank you to the entire New York Film Festival team. It is an honor.” —James Gray
“James Gray has been a fixture at the New York Film Festival for many years, and we are thrilled to welcome him back as our Opening Night filmmaker with a career-best achievement. Paper Tiger is a movie of immense emotional power, at once lovingly realistic and grandly mythic, and it confirms that James is one of the great New York filmmakers—one of the great filmmakers, period—of our time.” —NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim
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Get pre-sale access to Paper Tiger and more with a Premier, Bronze, or Gold Pass! On sale now in limited quantities.
The gripping, exquisitely foreboding dramas of James Gray reside in the dark space between the American dream and gutting reality. His brilliant new thriller, set in 1986 Queens and Brooklyn, is an authentically drawn New York story and a master class in escalating tension, charting the tragic domestic fallout after family man and engineer Irwin (Miles Teller), who aspires to middle-class comforts, is pulled into a shady deal by his brother, Gary (Adam Driver), a former NYPD cop. Gary thinks he can make a killing on a scheme with Russian criminals dumping oil down by the Gowanus Canal, assisting them to work around regulations; instead Gary ends up endangering his brother, as well as Irwin’s sons (Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel) and wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson), who is going through her own private crisis. Torn between brotherly love and marital loyalty, Irwin discovers he’s ensnared in forces far beyond his control. With its vivid period detail and marvelous, deeply moving trio of lead performances, Paper Tiger is a frightening portrait of pollution in all forms—and the human bonds that can save us from the brink of despair. A NEON release.
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