Dalbert Pringle And, who, exactly, was Vivian Maier?... Well - That, my friends, is probably something which we'll never, ever know for sure.But, with that said - I certainly must give John Maloof (this documentary's co-writer/co-director) a helluva lot of credit for his thoughtful and extensive investigation into the identity of this very private, yet incredibly prolific, street-photographer who, in her lifetime, took an estimated 150,000 photos (most of which were never developed).It was only by a stroke of sheer luck that Maloof came across this surprise discovery of negatives amongst Vivian's possessions, which he had purchased at an auction (of her abandoned personal property) in 2007.Vivian (who worked as a nanny for various families for nearly 40 years) apparently never showed her photographic work to anybody. But thanks to Maloof's uncovering of Vivian's personal possessions, it is now realized that her photographic-eye was truly exceptional.For the most part, this documentary was quite an extraordinary experience for this viewer. But, alas, it lost itself some significant points due to there being just a little too much emphasis placed on determining whether Vivian was a kook, or not.In conclusion - Without ever achieving the recognition that she so rightly deserved in her lifetime, Vivian Maier died in 2009 (at the age of 83) in the state of complete poverty.

estebangonzalez10 "The history of street photography is being rewritten."John Maloof's life changed when he bought a box full of old negatives in a local auction house. He was simply trying to find old pictures of his neighborhood for a history book, but what he got in return was more than he bargained for. He discovered these amazing street photographs taken by a woman named Vivian Maier and started posting them on his blog. Eventually the photos began getting some recognition and Maloof decided to start digging into this person's past and figuring out who she was and why she never developed all those negatives. Using the archive footage from the negatives he began piecing together certain elements of Vivian's past. Through interviews of people who knew Vivian years ago, Maloof tries to understand what motivated this mysterious woman to take these brilliant photographs. His first mission was to get her beautiful pictures artistically recognized, and once he does he begins to try to solve the enigmatic mystery of her past. The documentary works extremely well as this mysterious character study that begins to take form through Vivian's photographs and interviews with the few people that actually had interacted with her when she worked as a nanny for a number of families in New York. Finding Vivian Maier stands out from other documentaries in that it is narrated extremely well with the mystery element surrounding Vivian's life. The fact that this woman was fortunately discovered by Maloof and brought to the public's attention is quite fascinating. I'm no photography expert, but the pictures look amazing and there is no question Maier was a talented artist. Big props to John Maloof for making such an amazing discovery and doing such great investigative work.

Al Rivera I was so looking forward to watching this documentary. I love biographies and fell in love with her photography after watching a PBS special about her a couple of years ago. Instead of trying to capture what little is known of her life and work, this movie turned into a posthumous roast. So she was eccentric, big deal, so are a lot of other artists. Did the movie have to focus on that? Does it have to diminish her work? And the accounts from the children Maier cared for. Many of them seemed to be a little off themselves. I feel this part of her story was sensationalized just to make for a better story because there is very little that is known about her. I agree with a previous poster that stated Maloof should have kept himself out and just offered a narrative. At times I felt he was trying to make it more about him than anything else. I must say I did enjoy when he traveled to France in search of her relatives. That was was interesting and relative to the story. I wished they would have spoken to more people like the gentlemen in the beginning who talked about the type of camera she used and his theory on why she probably liked working with it. Fascinating stuff that was overshadowed by talk of how kookoo she was. Still definitely worth watching, but I think the PBS special they aired a while back was much better and talked about what really matters, her photography.

valleyjohn This is a fascinating documentary about Vivian Maier , an odd woman , but a genius with a camera. When she died , her belongings went to auction , which included hundreds of thousands of negatives and boxes of undeveloped rolls of film . John Maloof , the director of this film started to discover , that these pictures where extraordinary and he set out to find what this woman , and her life , was all about. I enjoyed this a lot and you really have to see this film to see what a fantastic photographer of people she was. Finding Vivian Maier is nominated in the best documentary category in this years Oscar's.7 out of 10