“A tree is a source of life, and one raises it like a child,” says Husneia El-Abed Hassan, an old woman who was raised among the olive tree groves of the small West Bank town of Budrus. “When an enemy comes to your land and takes it away from you, death becomes a lot easier.” And so begins the tale of Budrus, a documentary about a Palestinian village’s struggle to prevent the government of Israel from building a portion of the separation barrier through their land.

Making the Boys, Crayton Robey’s latest documentary, gets at an idea I have always found absolutely fascinating: the remarkable and sometimes devastating effect of rapidly changing cultural context on a work of art. When The Boys in the Band came out (ha!) in 1968, it was lauded as a truly earth-shattering, landmark off-Broadway production.

Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles is an uninvolving alien invasion thriller, one that mistakes chaos for suspense. The scope of the story is impressively economical — unlike Independence Day, Liebesman and screenwriter Christopher Bertolini do not show the invasion on a macro-scale — but their reliance on undeveloped military characters quickly disengages any sympathy. Actors cannot adequately sell the script’s chest-thumping nationalistic attitude, and their frenzied cries rarely mask Liesbesman’s thoughtlessly amateurish set-pieces.

Brian Wilson: Songwriter 1962-1969 is undoubtedly the most comprehensive portrait of Brian Wilson’s work as a songwriter and producer ever released. I specifically mention the whole ‘as a songwriter and producer’ part because, thankfully, the commentators and experts interviewed don’t attempt to explain the sensational mental problems with which this dean of American pop music famously suffered after producing some of the most iconic/influential pieces in modern music.

Director Mike Ott and his second feature Little Rock have been heavily anointed in recent months, from winning the Gotham Award for “Best Film Not Playing At A Theatre Near You” to various “filmmaker to watch” distinctions. It’s a film that one might be tempted to file under the ever-fattening mumblecore category. But while the tag might fit the middle portion of the film, it doesn’t particularly fit its unique opening and closing scenes.

When boiled down to an easily digestible sentence, the premise of Tom Shadyac’s documentary I Am seems quite fascinating: the man behind such commercially successful Hollywood comedies as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, and Bruce Almighty uses (quasi-)scientific evidence to attack the scientific community and blame it for all of the world’s problems, ultimately concluding that only some hazily defined spirituality can save us.

If George Bailey had listened to everything his guardian had to say, nodded solemnly, told Clarence he had a better idea, and taken his dive off the Pottersville river bridge, It’s A Wonderful Life would have had a darker ending, probably a far smaller cultural impact, and a much closer resemblance to The Adjustment Bureau. Likewise, had Mr.

Set in the India-controlled region of Kashmir, Tariq Tapa’s Zero Bridge carves out a small, intimately detailed story of an intelligent teenage boy, Dilawar (Mohamad Imran Tapa), who lives with an abusive uncle while dabbling in pickpocketing and doing classmates’ homework for cash. Shot on a shoestring budget, the film employs a neorealist aesthetic, using rough, handheld digital footage and excessive close-ups to create a sense of immediacy and heighten its often tepid drama.