Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Micah-js22 Finding Vivian Maier shoulders the task of condensing a life time of over 100,000 photographs in to an hour and a half. And overall it does a pretty good job, providing a lovely showcase of the combination of old school charm and timeless beauty that has given Maier such posthumous popularity. Each shot also does a good job of contributing to the analysis of what the content of the photographs say about the woman behind the camera. The interviews are also full of much lively character. And the insight they are able to gather at times from simple things like facial expressions and tonal delivery is reminiscent of the distinct human touch present in Vivian's photographs. The only thing holding it back from being absolutely fantastic is how overplayed the mysterious aspects of Maier's life can be. Given that the mysteriousness behind her work is what gives it much of its allure, the film makers seem reluctant to fully realize Vivian as a concrete character. In a movie filled with thought provoking questions Finding Vivian Maier scarcely provides any answers. Why are the surviving members of Maier's family barely interviewed at all? Why are the thousands of recordings of Vivian speaking only used sparingly? Why does the film only dedicate a few minutes to the signs of mental disorders and abusive tendencies Maier showed? I can only conclude that the film makers wanted the mysticism that surrounds Maier to remain in tact. The movie still provides a reasonably good account of Maier's life, there are just some points where I wish there was more closure and fully realized concepts . It is still worth watching though for the thoughtfully put together photographs and interviews.

Screenthoughts Vivian Maier, living incognito as a nanny, led a mysterious double life – unbeknownst to all, she was a prodigious street photographer, taking more than 100,000 pictures in her lifetime. She died without resources – and without recognition. Enter John Maloof, who years later, bought a box of her negatives at an auction, and discovered what he had – spending countless hours devoted to bringing her work to the public. Thanks to his efforts, Vivian Maier is now considered one of the major photographic portraitists of the last century. Fiction, you ask? Nope, an Oscar-nominated documentary. Finding Vivian Maier is part mystery, part documentary, part biography, and never boring.O'Toole likes the story behind the work. Hollister is all about the genius of the work itself. While this is one podcast where imagery might have made it better, the descriptions of the work by Hollister and the story behind the artist by O'Toole more than make up for the fact that you will have to rush to your computer and look up the work long before the podcast is over.Podcast available at - http://screenthoughts.net/podcast/finding- vivian-maier/

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.

Red_Identity There is definitely an odd atmosphere that runs throughout the edges of this film, and it really does work in the context of what it's about. It's basically informative until it's just some kind of real mystery, with a woman that might've, most likely, had secrets of some kind. The real-life story is fascinating enough, and you wonder if some of the things could've even been set up. it sounds like the work of fiction, the dark shadow that is really built up with this woman at the core that's about ready to jump and lurch forward at you. It's intriguing, if maybe at times the film is too long to even warrant its short running time. Regardless, it mostly works so that's a small complaint.