From the moment Neon turned down Telluride and Toronto in favor of a gala opening night North American premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival for James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” the plan was to burst out of Alice Tully Hall with an Oscar contender. It’s a New York movie, after all, which did not score prizes at Cannes, but nabbed strong enough reviews to launch some awards talk.
In his introduction, NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim said he wanted the movie for opening night as soon as he started watching it last spring. “It’s not easy to make personal films in the current landscape of American cinema,” he said before telling the crowd this was the first 35mm screening to open NYFF in some years.
Gray thanked Neon for making 35mm prints for the festival. “I’m hoping it looks great,” he said. “It’s a little bit like saying, ‘Auntie Em, fire up the Model T!’” Sources say the film will play in 35mm when it opens November 13.
Black-tie attendees at the Tavern on the Green after-party were mostly upbeat about the movie, especially the performances of its central triangle, Miles Teller, Adam Driver, and Scarlett Johansson, who participated with Gray in a post-screening Q&A. But “Paper Tiger” had some detractors, too.
Set in Queens in 1986, the family drama stars Teller (contending for Best Actor) as the hardworking, decent father of two boys. His loyal wife (Scarlett Johansson) gets understandably upset when her husband and sons have an unexpected and disastrous encounter with the Russian mafia. Driver is the unreliable but well-intentioned brother/uncle who gets them into this sordid mess.
The Academy actors branch should respond well to these actors. While Teller gives his most mature performance to date, he is an Oscar newbie contending in a ridiculously crowded category. Oscar vet Johansson has a better shot in Supporting, especially if she works for it. She earned two nominations in 2020, lead for “Marriage Story” and Supporting for “Jojo Rabbit.” And Driver, also in Supporting, landed back-to-back nominations in that category for “BlacKkKlansman” and lead for “Marriage Story.” Of course, support from critics and decent box office will go a long way.
Naturally, the talk of the after-party turned to other anticipated entries in the NYFF lineup of more than 100 films, including the Saturday premiere of Venice-winning Gaza documentary “Naza,” the hot ticket “You Can See Everything” (A24, October 16), the Nathan Fielder/Lance Oppenheim documentary on Elizabeth Holmes that broke out of Telluride, and the Centerpiece Gala from Tony Gilroy, “Behemoth!” (Searchlight, December 4), starring Pedro Pascal as a Hollywood composer.
And stay tuned for IndieWire’s annual “Screen Talk” podcast live at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, with special guest Tony Gilroy. We tape live on October 6 and will post on October 9.