Crime/family mingle in 'Paper Tiger'

Director James Gray (Armageddon Time) travels back to 1986 for Paper Tiger, a family drama about the way ordinary life and criminal activity sometimes intersect. The movie's criminal backdrop centers on the moment when the Russian Mafia began to embed itself in the US, particularly in Brighton Beach, NY. Miles Teller, perhaps a trifle miscast, plays Irwin Pearl, a Jewish father who works as a reservoir engineer, not a job typically found in crime movies, but Pearl understands complex environmental projects and knows something about negotiating with government agencies. Adam Driver appears as Gary Pearl, an opportunistic ex-cop who believes he can profit from Russian mobsters who profess an interest in cleaning up the blighted Gowanus Canal, an industrial Brooklyn waterway. Gary urges his brother to join him in a consulting effort designed to help the Russians deal with complicated city regulations, a cash grab with a veneer of legitimacy -- at least in Gary's view. Sincere and perhaps…

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