{"id":861745,"date":"2026-09-26T21:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861745\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T21:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:02:09","slug":"paper-tiger-makes-its-case-at-nyff-premiere-a-labor-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861745\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Paper Tiger\u2019 Makes Its Case at NYFF Premiere: ‘A Labor of Love’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThere are worse ways to be introduced, when you\u2019re about to unveil your new film as the Opening Night selection of the New York Film Festival<\/a>, than as \u201cone of the great living American filmmakers.\u201d But that\u2019s exactly what Artistic Director Dennis Lim said as he brought Paper Tiger<\/a> director to the stage at Lincoln Center\u2019s Alice Tully Hall on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

\n\tGray has a long history with the festival, having closed it with The Lost City of Z and marked its anniversary with a special screening of Armageddon Time. But still, this felt different \u2014 as Gray himself noted in his moving introductory remarks, reflecting on growing up a few miles away from the Upper West Side. He remembered, after telling his parents he wanted to become a movie director, their skeptical reply: \u201cHow are you ever going to do that?\u201d Gray then looked to the full house inside the theater and said, visibly taken aback: \u201cWell, here I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe general feelings around Paper Tiger feel distinct from Gray\u2019s past films as well. Although a consistent critical darling, the Queens native hasn\u2019t been able to break into the Oscar race in his career thus far, and at this point seems overdue \u2014 certainly, it wasn\u2019t hard to think so hearing Lim\u2019s comments framing the relaunch of Paper Tiger, which has not screened publicly since its world premiere in Cannes. The film had been widely acclaimed on the Croisette, and despite the jury overlooking the drama \u2014 as has, frustratingly, been a pattern for Gray\u2019s movies at the festival over decades \u2014 it was being primed to roar with its fall launch by distributor Neon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAdam Driver<\/a> and Miles Teller<\/a> in Paper Tiger.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Neon<\/p>\n

\n\tIndeed, this one has arrived with the bells and whistles that typically elude the rollout of a Gray movie; its mix of bold classical filmmaking and rich memoiristic undertones is ideal for placing the movie in the context of his career. In his introduction, Lim spoke about how difficult it is to make personal, independent American films in the current climate; earlier this month, he called Paper Tiger \u201cmiraculous\u201d in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> for just that reason. In a season dominated by international directors and blockbuster hits, that framing stands out.<\/p>\n

\n\tPaper Tiger stars Miles Teller and Adam Driver as Irwin and Gary Pearl, brothers in 1986 Queens, caught in a scheme that puts their family\u2019s lives at risk. Gray\u2019s tight screenplay weaves these crime-thriller bones into textured family drama, with the plot coming to hinge on Irwin\u2019s wife, Hester (Scarlett Johansson<\/a>), considering how best to protect her sons and ensure their future, while also contending with her own personal crisis.<\/p>\n

\n\tShown on a 35mm print at Lincoln Center, this North American premiere was warmly received, with the core cast all on hand. As THR reported last week<\/a>, Teller will campaign as a lead in the film \u2014 Irwin\u2019s POV opens and closes the film \u2014 with past Oscar nominees Driver and Johansson going supporting. The best-actor race may be too competitive for Teller to make much of a dent, but the transformational work of Driver and Johansson, who\u2019ve earned raves<\/a> for Paper Tiger, could gain traction (and help push the film as well) coming off of the NYFF momentum.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were on such a small set\u2026and also it was extremely hot, and when you have a group of actors hanging around with everybody on top of each other \u2014 honestly, that\u2019s a labor of love. You do it because you love to do it,\u201d Johansson said in the post-screening Q&A. \u201cYou end up hanging out and talking and sharing stories and feeling closer\u2026. You have to survive the day, and it\u2019s hard making movies, and it\u2019s very hard making movies [like this].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are worse ways to be introduced, when you\u2019re about to unveil your new film as the Opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[35657,236,88,261087,8655,23243,45374,279316,4114],"class_list":["post-861745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-adam-driver","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-james-gray","tag-miles-teller","tag-neon","tag-new-york-film-festival","tag-paper-tiger","tag-scarlett-johansson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}