Paper Soldier

Paper Soldier is a 2008 Russian drama film directed by Aleksey German Jr. For his film, German received the Silver Lion and Golden Osella for Best Cinematography from the 65th Venice International Film Festival.

Plot

The film tells about the doctor Daniil Pokrovsky, who is preparing the squad of the first cosmonauts for spacewalk.
The title is a reference to a Russian song about a soldier who bravely steps into a fire, unaware that he's actually just a toy made of paper.

Cast

Merab Ninidze as Doctor Daniil Pokrovsky
Chulpan Khamatova as Nina, Daniil's Wife
Anastasiya Shevelyova as Vera
Aleksandr Glebov as David
Ruslan Ibragimov as Adrian Nikolayev
Fyodor Lavrov as German Titov
Polina Filonenko as Misha's Friend
Valentin Kuznetsov as Yuri Gagarin
Kirill Ulyanov as Garik
Ramil Salakhutdinov as Misha

Reception

Slant Magazine said that the film "harkens back to Russian cinema of the ’60s" and gave it 3.5 of 4 stars. The review called Merab Ninidze's performance "mesmerizing" and the cinematography "exquisite" in a "tightly paced drama."