Big budget Iron Man racking up big box office? Not a shock. The latest from Harmony Korine (Gummo, Julian Donkey-Boy) topping the indie box office chart? That's a surprise. Mister Lonely (IFC Films) only opened at one theater in Manhattan, but it took in $19,100 for the highest per-screen average among indies this weekend, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Diego Luna plays a Michael Jackson impersonator; Samantha Morton, Denis Levant and filmmaker Werner Herzog also star. Our own Jeffrey M. Anderson wrote: "Though Mister Lonely seems sweeter and more mainstream than Korine's other films, it still has that sense of randomness, of pathetic luck and habit and wisdom all combining to make up a life, or a collision of lives."

David Mamet's Redbelt (Sony Classics) pulled in $11,433 per screen at six locations. Chiwitel Ejiofor stars as the honorable owner of a Jiu-jitsu studio who is drawn into the world of "pay-per-view mixed martial arts," as Cinematical's James Rocchi described it. He did not feel the film matched the writer/director's best work; "still, even minor Mamet can be a source of major satisfaction, especially with an actor as compelling as Ejiofor in the lead."

Son of Rambow (Paramount Vantage) averaged $10,500 each at five theaters. Garth Jennings' delightful kids' adventure follows two boys as they create their own action movie epic featuring John Rambo. James Rocchi called it "a brilliant celebration of the exuberance and thrill of bad storytelling, of making art, of having dreams."

Cinematical was just handed this exclusive poster for the film Fugitive Pieces (click on the image to enlarge), based on the best-selling novel from Anne Michaels and directed by Jeremy Podeswa (Six Feet Under, Dexter). A Canadian film, Fugitive Pieces helped launch last year's Toronto International Film Festival, where a whole crop of people really dug it. Named one of Canada's Top Ten of the year, the film "tells the story of Jakob Beer (Robbie Kay), a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during WWII. As a child in Poland he is orphaned during wartime then saved by a compassionate Greek archaeologist. Over the course of his life, he attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. Through his writing, and then through the discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past," so says the synopsis. Looks good. Looks meaty. I like it.

Fugitive Pieces is due out in theaters on May 2, and you can check out the trailer right here.

Last September, TIFF screened the world premiere of war drama Fugitive Pieces, which went on to screen at Vancouver's fest, then Warsaw, Roma, and Thessaloniki. In December, it received the honor of being one of Canada's Top Ten. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up the rights to the film, starting with a U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February. A few months after that, the company plans to release the film to larger audiences this May.

Written and directed by Dexter and Six Feet Under alum and Toronto native Jeremy Podeswa, Fugitive Pieces is based on the novel by Anne Michaels. Set during World War II, the film follows a young boy's life after his Jewish parents and sister are attacked and taken by the Nazi army as he hid. He flees to the woods, and is brought to Greece by an archaeologist who takes care of him. When the war is over, the two move to Toronto, but Jakob can't leave his painful memories behind. Throughout his life, he is haunted by the memories of the horrific experience, and as THR describes it, he "attempts to deal with his losses through writing and the discovery of true love." It sounds like a heart-wrenching, yet sort of hopeful, flick that's just perfect for a showery May day.

One of my favorite times of the year is seeing what will pop on for Canada's Top Ten. Every year, Cinematheque Ontario releases the films they believe are the country's top 10 of the year, and tops off great selections with panel events with filmmakers and stars. It's the series that introduced me to Guy Maddin, while letting me relish quintessential Canadian talent like Sarah Polley and Calum Keith Rennie. Being outside of the big-studio system, the 10 are also pretty diverse, interesting, and challenging. In the last few years alone, they've screened the likes of Away from Her, C.R.A.Z.Y., Ryan, The Saddest Music in the World, Ararat, and Ginger Snaps.

Now it's time for this year's selections, and along with the features released yesterday in a press statement, the collection includes short films -- all of which will screen from January 25-February 5 at Cinematheque Ontario. Without further ado, here are the lucky films:

Features

L' Âge des ténèbres -- Denys Arcand
Amal -- Richie Mehta
Continental, un film sans fusil (Continental, a Film Without Guns) -- Stéphane LaFleur
Eastern Promises -- David Cronenberg | TIFF Review
Fugitive Pieces -- Jeremy Podeswa
My Winnipeg -- Guy Maddin | TIFF Review
A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman -- Peter Raymont | TIFF Review
The Tracey Fragments -- Bruce McDonald | Berlinale Review, Cannes Review
Up the Yangtze -- Yung Chang
Young People F*cking -- Marin Gero | TIFF Review

Shorts

Code 13 -- Mathieu L. Denis, The Colony -- Jeff Barnaby, Dust Bowl Ha! Ha! -- Sebastien Pilote, Farmer's Requiem -- Ramses Madina, Les Grands -- Chloe Leriche, I Have Seen the Future -- Cam Christiansen, I Met the Walrus -- Josh Raskin, Madame Tutli-Putli -- Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski, Pool -- Chris Chong Chan Fui, Terminus -- Trevor Cawood

Panels will include the likes of Bruce McDonald, Richie Mehta, Robert Lantos, David Weaver, and Jamie Travis.

Opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival is reserved for a Canadian title, to give the mother country a chance to shine before the spotlight is divided among dozens of (usually) higher-profile films. This year, Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces was selected for the honor. Anne Thompson of Variety wrote a good profile of the director. A capsule review in the Toronto Sun noted that it was "not a festive way to launch" the festival, "but this haunted and haunting drama signals a year of seriousness and quality."

Writing in The Globe and Mail, Rick Groen called it a "good movie" and "an even better example of what the movies do more easily, more powerfully and more indelibly than any other medium." Peter Howell of the Toronto Star felt it was a "smart choice to open the fest ... yet for all of the merits of Podeswa's painterly approach to Michaels' source novel, Fugitive Pieces seems curiously drained of drama. The message is uncertain." NOW Magazine has a capsule view which comments favorably on the cinematography and the performances.

James Berardinelli of Reelviews described Fugitive Pieces as "forgettable." He said: "The film has lofty goals, but comes across as leaden and pretentious." Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere attended the press screening this morning, though he didn't last very long: "I was out the door after 30 minutes, but I was looking at my watch after the first 15 minutes. I don't care if it kicks in at the one-hour mark or whatever -- I won't sit through films like this." Wells is not a fan of lead actor Stephen Dillane: "He kills each and every film and play that he's in with his withered, crinkly-faced dweeby-ness." Look for a review from our own Ryan Stewart a little bit later -- assuming that Ryan didn't get run over by Jeff Wells on his locomotive race out of the theater.

Fugitive Pieces, the prize-winning first novel from poet Anne Michaels, is finally making its long-awaited transition to the big screen. The book tells the story of two men from different generations whose lives have been profoundly affected by the Holocaust: one witnessed the slaughter of his family, while the other is the child of survivors. According to a review at Amazon, "the novel is a meditation on the power of language to free our souls and allow us to find our own destinies." Uh, wow. How that's going to work, exactly? One hopes it isn't completely sacrificed in favor of a plot-point-A-to-plot-point-B screenplay.

The movie is being by Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa (of late a prolific helmer of American cable series, including Six Feet Under, Carnivàle, and The L Word), whose cast so far consists of Rosamund Pike, Stephen Dillane, and Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija; according to Screen Daily, there are two major roles left to cast, so the start of production is still a ways off.

The film, with a budget of about $10 million, is due in theaters in 2007.