Finding Vivian Maier

"Finding Vivian Maier" is one of the strangest documentaries I've seen in a very long time. Strange, however, does not mean it's bad--the movie is one that surprised me with how much I was drawn into this highly unique woman's life. And, it's just debuted on Netflix in case you'd like to give it a try, as it's amazingly original and worth your time.

When the documentary begins, a young and rather unusual young man, John Maloof, talks to the camera to explain how he came to know Vivian Maier. One day, a huge box full of photographs was being auctioned off and he bought it on a lark. It turned out that the pictures were amazingly good photographs of various everyday people taken in the 1950s. However, the pictures had a very artistic touch and it was obvious that the photographer was no novice---they had the eye of a wonderful artist. Armed only with a bit of information, John began researching for more on this woman. To his surprise, he learned that this Vivian Maier was a governess and maid--not a professional photographer. However, the story soon gets MUCH stranger. It turns out that there is a storage unit filled with her belongings and Miss Maier has recently died. And, with no apparently last of kin, Maloof buys the contents of the unit. Inside are boxes and boxes and suitcase after suitcase filled with approximately 100,000 photos taken from 1951 up towards the present. And, in addition, are many, many roles of undeveloped film-- and who knows what wonderful treasures are on these films?

The film, however, does not just talk about her photos or qualities as an artist. Instead, John goes on a journey to try to find people who knew Vivian in order to help him assemble her life story. What he finds is often contradictory, quite confusing and, above all, very strange. It seems that Vivian really had difficulty connecting with people and didn't remain on her jobs very long. She also created a persona of a French woman--though it turns out she was born in New York! Additionally, aside from one family with which she worked for about six years, most of her jobs seem to have lasted only a few months or perhaps a year (this was the case with Phil Donohue's family back about 1970--yes THAT Phil Donahue)! The reasons are not simple to explain without seeing the film, but could be boiled down to the fact that she was, as one person put it, a 'damaged person'--with so much emotional baggage and weird behaviors that she was unable to really connect with others. She could not allow herself to be physically or emotionally touched by others and her photos are a possible unusual way of connecting with the world. What else do you learn? Well, see the film--as the story takes many unusual twists and turns. Overall, it's less like a biography and more like a forensic case where some people are trying to re- create a dead person by interviewing all those who knew her during her odd life as well as using Maier's own photographs, film footage and audio tapes. And, what's really unusual is that most of the people she knew seemed to have no idea that she was a great artist...as she took this secret to her grave.

Fascinating....this is probably the word that best describes this film. You just have to see it to believe it and although many might think twice about seeing a documentary or a film about a strange eccentric, I heartily recommend you give this movie a chance. You won't regret it.

This documentary is one of a kind. The story of an eccentric, possible mentally ill mystery woman and her prolific photographic work. If the move was just about her art, it would be extraordinary, as her work was. The story of her bizarre and secret life just enhance the film. For a first time effort from John Maloof, this one is very well done. The film starts with those who knew her, openly expressing their amazement to her unknown and mysterious life as a street photographer, filled with the images she kept a secret from everyone. You wonder how someone with her talent could keep it a secret for so long. Maloof plays a significant role in front of the camera as it is necessary for him to tell the story. When it is over, you are still left with a sense of disappointment. You know more about this mystery woman, yet you still crave for more..............And, the images still haunt you. This is one movie I will see numerous times.

The showing I attended had Jeff Garlin participate in a Q & A. It was entertaining as he detailed the process and effort Maloof put in to make this gem of a documentary.

The added bonus was my friends brother was in the film. Very exciting.

Please see this film if you can. Please see the photography of Vivian Maier if you can.

I saw Finding Vivian Maier last night and thought that the movie was very interesting and riveting. I've been following the story of Vivian Maier's photography ever since the story first appeared on PBS-WTTW, Chicago. At first pass, the story was lacking in general information about her, but the many 1950s/1960s street photos of Chicago (mostly) and New York City were wonderful. The photos, I think it's fair to say, took the international photo art world by storm.

After she died, the bulk of her photos and negatives were bought by John Maloof, a co-director of the movie. Vivian Maier's personal and photographic story, along with John Maloof's story relative to purchasing the photos and fleshing out information on Ms Maier are the subject of the movie and the two interwoven stories are most interesting.

Interviews of those that knew her or her work are in the movie, many of her photos are shown, as are shows of her photos.

I, like the previous reviewer, would like to see the movie again. If it comes out in CD or similar form, I'd be a buyer.

This film is recommended.

Filmmaker John Maloof stumbles upon a trove of unwanted photos at an auction by a relatively unknown artist named Vivian Maier and this documentary, co-directed with Charlie Siskel, wants to make her well known and just may do so. His Antique Roadshow story becomes the basis for his documentary, Finding Vivian Maier, and it's almost too obvious that this filmmaker wants to create a legend and myth in this well done infomercial for this talented woman. Through interviews and archival footage of her photographic work, we learn little about this eccentric artist's life, she remain an enigma. But her photographic more than fulfills her lasting legacy.

To be honest, the film does not present a well balanced view of the late artist, and is purposely biased in its approach to heralding her fame. But Miss Maier's work, part Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, and Walker Evans, is certainly powerful. Her street photography is quite remarkable with a dark and insightful point of view.

Armed with a Rolleiflex camera, Maier shot over 100,000 photos of street life. Her imagery, mostly head shots of people on the streets of Chicago beginning in the 1960's, is varied and quite accomplished. Her photo journalistic style documents those times well into the 90's era. Her use of shadows and light are particularly effective and help to create a chilling mood with its subjects and their environs.

Finding Vivian Maier tries to uncover this artist's personal life, but never achieves that goal, due to conflicting stories by interviewees and the lack of physical evidence left by Maier herself. We take away from the film the fact that she was a private person whose main job was being a full-time nanny, although she may have possibly had severe mentally issues. She was a creative and prolific artist on the side, rarely printing or showing her own work to others. But we also take away from this biography a slightly disturbing feeling that the filmmakers might have an ulterior motive, taking advantage of the artist for purely financial reasons rather than mere admiration of her work. Some details (her early life, her friends and family members, her death) are glossed over instead of examined with any depth or mention.

That said, the filmmakers have assembled a compelling portrait of the photographer and her work is certainly worthy of attention. We may not find the real essence of the artist in the documentary, Finding Vivian Maier, but the journey itself and Vivian Maier's memorable imagery makes for fascinating viewing. GRADE: B

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Though we know very little about some of the great artists of the past, many say that it is not important because we have the works. Yet the world still longs for knowledge about the living, breathing human being, the man or woman behind the name on the painting or the title page. This element of mystery is what makes John Maloof and Charlie Siskel's documentary Finding Vivian Maier so intriguing, yet also leaves us wanting to know more. The subject of the film is an unknown photographer whose art has been compared to the masters, though she never exhibited her work and little is known about her life.

The photos, discovered by Maloof, display a segment of society invisible to many in the 1950s - the old, the poor, the black, the young, and the disenfranchised, a kaleidoscope of stunning images that poignantly capture the faces of humanity with humor and rare sensitivity. The story begins with John Maloof reporting how he purchased a box of negatives at an auction in Chicago in 2007 for a book he was working on. Told that the photographs were by Vivian Maier, he did not recognize the name and could find nothing about her on Google. After stashing the box away for two years, Maloof decided to scan some images and post them on Flickr.

Writing on the website that he had about 30,000 negatives of Maier's work that cover a period ranging from the 1950s to the 1970s, he requested direction, asking whether the photos are worthy of an exhibition or a book. Shortly after that, an article appeared in a British newspaper and the Chicago Cultural Center presented an exhibition of her work in 2011. Kickstarter provided the funding and this documentary began to take shape. Still digging for more information, the second half of the film is devoted to discoveries the director made about Maier and they are not all pretty.

What we do know is that Maier was born in 1926 and spent some time in France before working as a nanny for upper middle class families in the Chicago suburbs (including a brief time with Phil Donahue). Always dressed in an old-fashioned suit, Maier would walk through streets and alleys with the children she cared for, snapping black and white photographs with her Rolleiflex camera that she held down by her waist. Interviews with past employers and grown children, though often contradictory, reveal a private but very complex individual with strong opinions that she did not hesitate to share. They also indicate that she had a dark side and her reported bizarre behavior may have indicated serious emotional problems.

There are also stories about her room being filled with newspaper as high as the ceiling, that she used a fake French accent (though some do not recall any accent at all), and changed her name with each family she worked for, often giving phony names. One woman remembered that Maier told her that she was "sort of a spy." Some of those interviewed have more upsetting memories about coercion and bullying, but the film does not dwell on them, nor provide anyone to either counter or corroborate them. We do learn, however, that when Vivian was much older, two of the children she cared moved her into an apartment and finally into a nursing home where she died in 2009.

Unfortunately, neither of these loving children was interviewed, leaving a tantalizingly vague idea of who she really was. Though admittedly he has a commercial interest in its promotion, Maloof has done a public service by making the world aware of the work of this great artist and has been willing to spend an enormous amount of time and money in the process. Though this has resulted in her work now being displayed in galleries all over the world, the question of why her photographs have not been accepted by the Museum of Modern Art is left unexplored.

The bigger mystery - why she chose to withhold the photos from the world, of course, is still unknown and the film sheds very little light on this puzzle. Like last year's Searching for Sugar Man, a documentary about Sixto Rodriguez, another unknown but very talented artist, Finding Vivian Maier is a fascinating ride. Unlike Rodriguez, however, Vivian Maier will never hear the applause.