
After a disappointing festival so far, even decent films feel exceptional. James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” is a good example – a gritty thriller starring Adam Driver and Miles Teller as brothers in 1980s New York who get caught up in a plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal. Driver plays a former cop who knows how to negotiate with the Russian mafia, while Teller is the straight-laced engineer who struggles to understand that honesty doesn’t always work. Teller and his wife, played by Scarlett Johansson, seem a little out of their depth – though Johansson’s 80s hairstyle is a bit over the top. Still, the movie has a well-written, suspenseful plot, and at this point in the festival, that’s a welcome change.