Film Review: Finding Vivian Maier (12A) (U.S.A. 2013) (Directors: John Maloof & Charlie Siskel), The Cameo Cinema Screen Two, Edinburgh, Tuesday 05.08.2014 18:00

I was curious about this documentary and was aware of a lot of chatter in regard to it. I landed up going as a friend asked if would like to join him. 

The starting point for the film was a student attending an auction to see if he could find and purchase old photos of Chicago that he could use in his dissertation. He took a punt on a box of negatives which turned out to be no use for his studies, though was the beginning of his discovering and collating the photographic work of one Vivian Maier. No one appeared to be aware of this lady as a photographer of note, her work never gaining exposure during her lifetime. 

The film shows a considerable sample of her work, and to my eyes her work certainly captures complex scenes that are both desolate & beautiful, tragic while hopeful, tender and aggressive, and so on. It could easily be seen that she was interested in capturing images that show expression on differing levels.  

The film once showing the nature of her work, moved on to track down and meet people who knew her. Miss Maier had worked for various families as a nanny over the years, and the accounts from some of the children (now grown up) who had been in her care, suggests that she had a very harsh side, though that she also had a very fun and exploitative side to her. The film throughout builds up a  picture of a very private, in ways possessive lady who now would have been considered as a hoarder. I commented to my friend after the film, that although it is very rarely said in regard to females, though she displayed a lot of traits of someone who could be considered quite high on the autistic spectrum. 

I feel the film was a very interesting presentation of acutely perceptive art and the intriguing character who created it. I would recommend to people who are interested in photography and people who plow their own furrow. I was taken by work enough that I have began to look into what books have been published of her work.   

Rating: 09/10.