IFC News: Ryan Reynolds, Griffin Dunne and Haneke's Kafka.

This week on IFC News:

Nick Schager interviews Ryan Reynolds, who's winning new respect with his role in "The Nines" (not that he didn't already have plenty after the éclair scene in "Van Wilder"):

Was it difficult playing August while he was sitting behind the camera?

It's painfully awkward in the beginning, but there's so much trust between John and me that he really gave me license to go for it. He said, "Expose me, warts-and-all." A lot of what that character is dealing with is hubris, and that's not a flattering trait to be portraying in somebody who's standing in the same room as you. A lot of that stuff is improvised, and that made it even more of a challenge. I'm aping things I've heard him say. I'd have conversations with him and go home and furiously take notes on everything he said, and I would somehow find a way to [include those things] within a scene.

Aaron Hillis talks with Griffin Dunne:

Not to make any insinuations, but what attracts you to a dysfunctional family story?

Oh, I think every family is dysfunctional, or everyone assumes their family is. There's almost a competitive pride in people's dysfunctions. It's a natural inclination to assume we are the result of the way we were brought up. We spend our lives trying to overcome, embrace or blame that, use it as an excuse. People love telling stories about it: "You think that was bad? You know, when I was a kid..." I think about what kind of stories my kid is going to tell about me.

Michael Atkinson looks into Haneke's "The Castle" and Ishii's "Horrors of Malformed Men": "In Kafka's writing, essential anxiety isn't supposed to be 'felt,' viscerally, by the reader, but observed from a wry, appalled distance, and it's this sense that Haneke nails — despite the fact that often the dithering irrationality of 'The Castle''s paranoid minions is so in your face you can smell the clammy sweat."

On the podcast, we salute the indie musical.

In light of recent media fixations, we've excavated a piece from two years ago: Notable Cinematic Self-Offings.

Matt Singer reviews "Romance & Cigarettes" here ("You kind of have to be as nutty as John Turturro to appreciate it") and "In the Shadow of the Moon" here ("Awe-inspiring and uplifting, a reminder that when mankind puts aside its squabbling and works towards a goal, it can achieve great things").

And Chris Bonet has what's new in theaters.

+ IFC News