Paper Soldier

Paper Soldier (Бумажный солдат) 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 66th Venice 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 (as Doctor Daniil Pokrovsky) "mesmerizing" and the cinematography "exquisite" in a "tightly paced drama."