Oregon Movies, A to Z

It would be pretty dreary covering all of Oregon’s film fabulousness by myself. So Aaron Mesh and I made a deal – he would cover writing brilliantly about current films playing in theaters. I would cover writing about Oregon connected films either a) too old to be playing in theaters or b) so new they haven’t yet played outside Portland.

The deal worked out beautifully for me, since Mesh consistently performed at a level far above and beyond the call of duty. Think I’m exaggerating?  Association of Alternative Newsweeklies just recognized the value of  Mesh’s work with a nomination for an award which places him alongside J. Hoberman of the Village Voice and Greg Cook of the Boston Phoenix.

Aaron Mesh has been consistently writing more thoughtful, original film criticism than any mid-sized city has reason to expect to find in its largest free weekly paper. The nomination makes a point of this – he was cited for his entire column, Screen Reviews, not for any one specific article.

Aaron Mesh has just been given the highest possible honor by a group of his peers — they are saying that his work is ALWAYS good.

Mesh has been running a marathon, all the while maintaining the wind and speed more usually found in a sprint.  I am sorry to report that he doesn’t locally get much credit for this, possibly since readers of Willamette Week have come to think of  brilliance as the norm,  as the list of Mesh’s predecessors includes David Walker and Kim Morgan.

Congratulations, Aaron!