‘Paper Tiger,' a Classic Crime Drama at the Fall Cinema Series

Writer/director/producer James Gray opens the movie with a quote from Aeschylus, “ the father of ancient Greek tragedy, “Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.” This particular quote by Aeschylus was the perfect distillation of what the movie is about: the cost of ambition, and a culture which tells you that you should always want and need more. Well-meaning people face difficult circumstances and make terrible decisions with the best of intentions. The character of Irwin (Miles Teller) is filled with a wealth he doesn’t see, it’s just not material in nature.

Gray shares that he had a lot of good fortune in his life, and chief among this was receiving an incredible secondary-school education in which he was forced to read Latin and ancient Greek literature, even though he hated it at the time. Such a curriculum gives you a sense of story where external and internal conflict are key, where the sweep of narrative involves grand stakes and the stories in some way examine the enormity, and infinite aspect of the human soul.

Immediately following the screening, Deadline’s chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on PBS SoCal’s Must See Movies, moderates a post screening Q&A with James Gray.