TOThe Cannes Film Festival goes into competition Paper Tiger by James Gray (To Astra), an intimate and familiar gangster movie with themes such as guilt, loyalty, brotherhood and betrayal at its centre. The protagonists are Miles Teller, Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. The latter work together again, this time in the role of two brothers-in-law, seven years later Story of a marriage by Noah Baumbach. And even in this case they deliver thrilling performances.
Paper Tiger is set in the 1980s in Brighton Beachand is the story of two brothers, Major Gary Pearl, a former police officer, and Irwin, an engineer, who, chasing the American dream, become entangled in the dangerous world of the Russian mafia. Looking for an escape route, family bonds begin to break downwith consequences that will change their lives forever.
Paper Tiger: the plot of James Gray’s film in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival
Set in September 1986, Paper Tiger follows Gary (Adam Driver), a former police officer turned private security consultantwhich involves brother Irwin (Miles Teller) in a seemingly very profitable project. An oil company with ties to the Russian mafia intends to redevelop a Queens canal and Gary is convinced that his brother’s engineering skills can guarantee the two a key role in the operation.
Irwin, however, torn between family responsibilities towards his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and their two children, looks askance at that business. Despite his hesitations, Gary downplays the dangers and insists on the enormous profit possibilities.
Adam Driver at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. (Ansa)
Soon, however, the two brothers realize that they have gone far beyond the limitswhat they imagined. James Gray uses this descent into crime not so much to surprise with twists, but to build an increasingly suffocating climate marked by an inevitable fate. The director of To Astra delves deeper into family dynamics and tensions that are created when the Russians threaten Irwin’s family.
Paper Tiger: the cast with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson
Over thirty years later Little Odessahis first film as director, winner of the Silver Lion at the 1994 Venice Film Festival, James Gray, returns to his hometown, New York, with the same communitythe same geography and the same themes, between family dynamics and crime.
The director called Miles Teller (the Rooster, son of Goose, in.) into his family crime movie Top Gun: Maverick) Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. The latter had already worked in the acclaimed Story of a marriage (2019) by Noah Baumbachgiving interpretations to put on the notice board.
In Gray’s new film they are equally convincing in the role of two brothers-in-law that they can barely stand. Johansson moves away from the muscular roles of Jurassic World – Rebirth And Black Widow finally approaching a more intimate dimension. She plays a caring mother and wife (to Irwin), willing to do anything to protect her family.
Paper Tiger: review
Gray favors characters and atmosphere over plot twists. Criminal matters give way to personal and family matters. The change of tone occurs when Irwin and his two sons are discovered while they observe Russian mobsters spilling oil into the Queens canal. From that moment his family is threatened and a clash between the two brothers erupts very different from each other: Gary is corrupt, while Irwin is a prudent family man. The looming danger changes the cards on the table and the balance of blood: to what extent are you willing to protect your family? Paper Tiger it’s not a classic gangster movie because alongside the construction of suspense and criminal intrigue, it favors the bonds and tensions between the characters.
