We've got quite a diversity of recommendations this week - from the politically conscious, to the "sick and twisted", to the, well, sick and twisted and Russian. Check it out!

First on our list is the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, which runs February 19- 26 at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and March 10, 16, 23, 30 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. This year the festival "offers eleven provocative films which have the power to share individual stories of survival as well as strength across both physical and philosophical borders." See the list of SF films here and the Berkeley films here.

For a festival of a different stripe, Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Animation Festival returns with a run at The Victoria Theatre (2961 16th St.) on Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays until April 29. The festival features "20 brand new short animated films plus two surprise bonus films." We have never had a bad time at this fest, and we've even gone sober.

Image from Night Watch

Finally, we've been super-psyched about Night Watch since Londonist Mike got us hip to it. Since we knew that the version opening today was way different from the version that broke all industry records in Russia, we asked him if we should even bother seeing this version. Here's his response:

The first thing you need to know about the Fox Searchlight theatrical cut of Night Watch is that it shouldn't stop you enjoying the film - it's a great slice of entertainment and if a slight edit means that it opens to a wider audience then so be it. Check it out on the big screen and if you like what you see, but are left feeling a need for a little bit more then please track down the full uncut version by all means. You won't get the fancy subtitles, but you will get a much more well rounded movie that hints at a lot more depth beneath the surface.

The first change is unsettling as the original Russian voice over is changed and tweaked slightly into Russian accented English. This may well give some of the audience a scare that the whole thing has been dubbed. Thankfully that's not the case, but this was an odd thing to change as little is added by the thick accent. Once the film begins and the Russian takes over we're treated to the only potentially beneficial change - the infamous subtitles. Words bleed, fonts jumble, letters follow the actors and change colour like a cheap mood ring depending on the action onscreen. It is (to quote Kevin Costner) neat, but again it adds little apart from perhaps an extra distraction from an already complicated plot - besides which I think Bubba Ho Tep got there first.

A large section of narrative is cut concerning the plane in trouble over the city. In the Russian version the flight is at the mercy of the mood swings of the cursed Svetlana. As she reacts badly to events around her then things get worse for the passengers, particularly one couple that this cut focuses on, but are dismissed to a single shot in the shorter one. Likewise the whole plane episode in the new version is relegated to nothing more than a throwaway incident.

Elsewhere we see Yegor sitting down in front of a groan inducing episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - in the original this was a more traditional Russian kids show but there was a clash of rights hence the inclusion of the Buffster. No biggie.

The biggest cut is a whole section of subplot concerning Ignat's attempts to calm down Svetlana while Anton is busy elsewhere. Forced back into Night Watch service the day before his wedding, his clumsy attempts to woo and becalm the cursed woman make for some of the funniest moments in the Russian version and also feature a hell of a lot of Nescafe product placement. His exclusion from proceedings is we guess meant to streamline the plot and make Anton's intervention that much more important, but those familiar with the longer cut can't help feel robbed by Gosha Kutsenko's loss - terrible hairpiece and all.

There are additional snips here and there and the new translation seems to make a little more sense while some scenes are slightly rearranged to again help the non-Russian audience get a handle on what's going on. The delight of the longer version though is the very real sense that this is a fully fledged world with its own mythology and history and that the main thrust of the narrative only hints at a much broader picture. The Fox cut is simply an attempt to make it more palatable and the more it succeeds the more of the original flavour is lost. There are of course two more films on the way with the third and final installment perhaps filmed in English which again sounds like a compromise to the American money that is now helping finance the trilogy.

Thanks, Mike. That's good enough for us. We're there!