Review: 'Armageddon Time' is a well-observed and unsentimental look into a childhood facing prejudice and privilege.

As one might expect from director James Gray — the man who made “Ad Astra,” “The Lost City of Z” and other precisely calibrated dramas — his semi-autobiographical memory play “Armageddon Time” is astringent, a mostly unsentimental look back in time at prejudice and privilege.

The movie introduces us to the Graffs, a middle-class Jewish family living in Queens, New York, in 1980. The father, Irving (Jeremy Strong), is an appliance repairman; the mother, Esther (Anne Hathaway), is head of the PTA and worries about her boys, particularly the younger one, Paul (played by Banks Repeta), who seems to be having trouble fitting in at school. 

Paul confides in his grandpa, Aaron Rabinowitz, who narrowly escaped Ukraine before the Nazis arrived. Grandpa is played by Anthony Hopkins, who portrays the character as such a centering presence in Paul’s life that it doesn’t matter that the actor doesn’t even attempt any sort of European accent.

Paul makes a new friend at school, a Black classmate named Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb) — who lives with his grandma and carries stickers of Apollo missions, which he says are from his brother in the Air Force. Johnny and Paul share some interests, such as making fun of their 6th grade teacher, Mr. Turkeltaub (Andrew Polk). It doesn’t take long for Paul to notice that when Mr. Turkeltaub catches them, Johnny’s punishments are much harsher than Paul’s, so when Johnny gets expelled, Paul makes a point of getting expelled, too.

Paul catches hell for that from his dad, who shows an explosive, abusive side. Mom has to pick up the pieces, and enroll Paul in the private school where his older brother, Ted (Ryan Sell), already attends. Here, Paul sees discrimination on an industrial scale, from the taunting rich kids who use the n-word when Paul spots Johnny walking by. 

To punctuate the school’s overwhelming air of entitlement, Gray includes an encounter between Paul and one of the school’s wealthy donors: real-estate tycoon Fred Trump (John Diehl). Paul doesn’t meet Fred’s son, the orange-hued jackass who still can’t accept that he lost the 2020 presidential election, but he does attend a school assembly headlined by Fred’s daughter, Maryanne (Jessica Chastain), who delivers a speech about self-reliance that is breathtaking in its hypocrisy. (This is three years before Ronald Reagan, who hovers over the Graffs’ conversations like a boogeyman, appointed Maryanne to the federal bench.)

Gray depicts this era — when he, like Paul, would have been 11 years old — with little nostalgia, save perhaps the deep and mutual affection Paul and his grandpa share. Mostly, 1980 and 1981 are depicted here as a rough, angry time in America, as Paul’s father tells him in a shattering late scene.

In “Armageddon Time,” Gray doesn’t have to shout out how the callous attitudes of the early Reagan years are echoed in today’s divided nation. By being quiet, and letting Paul’s pre-teen life take it all in, the message is delivered. 

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‘Armageddon Time’

★★★

Opens Friday, November 4, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for language and some drug use involving minors. Running time: 115 minutes.