Above: "Kedi" was one of thousands of films that Seattle Times critic John Hartl liked. (Photo/Oscilloscope)

I’ve had the opportunity to meet, or interview, a number of film critics over the course of my career. A few have names you might even recognize.

You certainly know the cities in which they worked. You know, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle … and so on.

Some were remote and even dismissive, a fact I always attributed to the fact that I represented a small-town newspaper. Others, though, were friendly and  fully accepting of me as a fellow movie professional.

None, though, was more gentlemanly than John Hartl of the Seattle Times.

I began regularly attending the Seattle International Film Festival in the early ’90s. And before I went, I always read Hartl’s festival previews to figure out what I should see.

But it took years for me to work up the nerve to approach him before a screening, introduce myself and say how much I admired him. And to my delight, he smiled, shook my hand and then asked me what I had seen that I liked.

He asked me. I was, and always will be, grateful to him for that.

I received an email yesterday from a friend who lives in Seattle telling me that Hartl died last week. I’m still processing that fact that he’s gone.

He had long ago retired from the Times, but a lot of his work can still be found by just doing a simple Internet search.

Which is gratifying. It’s nice to know that Hartl’s words can still teach us something about the movies.

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