The Paper Tigers (2021 | USA | 108 minutes | Quoc Bao Tran)
The best local Seattle film production of 2021 has arrived. Even qualifying it in that way feels like an undersell. With much respect to everything that played last month in SIFF’s “Northwest Connections” program (all of which I saw, enjoyed, and would heartily recommend!), The Paper Tigers stands in a league of its own.
Quoc Bao Tran’s debut feature film is most easily described as a “kung fu comedy”, but that doesn’t even come close to capturing the tone or the heart of this gem. As a person with only a passing knowledge of and very little interest in martial arts movies, I can see that this one cares deeply about that subject matter, and presents some quite coherent and engaging fight scenes, but they’re a vehicle through which to deliver a well-constructed plot and present fully rounded, human characters, not simply an excuse to watch guys beat each other up for two hours.
Also, the story’s setup – a group of three estranged friends coming back together to get to the bottom of their old master’s death, except that the friends are now in middle age and not quite the kung fu prodigies they were as teens – calls to mind any number of “I’m getting too old for this” aging tough-guy flicks starring either Danny Glover or recent Robert De Niro. And while many of the laughs are located within the joke of seeing a past-his-prime guy throw his back out with his first kick, or having his hairpiece unexpectedly ripped off, in general this film’s humor is much less broad and slapstick-reliant than it could have been.
Although punctuated by some cool fight effects (which are especially impressive considering the film’s low budget), generally the style here is natural, like you’re just hanging out with your friends – and you laugh at these characters, like with your friends, because you know them and care about them. And it’s full of heart with a strong emotional center, not just punches and punch lines. Alongside natural and lovable performances all around, but especially by leads Alain Uy, Ron Yuan, and Mykel Shannon Jenkins, and complementing Tran’s tight script and Shaun Mayor’s present but not intrusive cinematography, Daniel L.K. Caldwell’s score rides an excellent line: sometimes reflecting the mood, sometimes heightening it, and sometimes even adding a subtle comical note itself via music cues.
The Paper Tigers fits perfectly alongside the gentle family-troubles laughs of 2019’s The Farewell and the sardonic fish-out-of-water surprises of 2020’s Lucky Grandma; maybe it’s time to talk about a new canon of modern Asian-American indie comedies. Like with those films, it also feels deeply invested in honoring its cultural roots, while telling the kind of story that will become easily beloved by anyone interested in quality cinema or who’s simply out for a fun time. Picking out Seattle landmarks and favorite Chinatown-International District restaurants on top of all that is just icing on the cake.
The Paper Tigers is playing in theaters and virtual cinemas now (right on time to include in AAPI Heritage Month celebrations!): including in-person screenings at Bellevue’s Cinemark Lincoln Square Cinemas, and virtual screenings via Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum.