Finding Vivian Maier is the most extraordinary
documentary. A young guy is looking for photos of Chicago for his work, he goes
to an auction and wins a bid on this old trunk chock full of thousands of
negatives. They don't work for his needs, but he is overwhelmed at how good they
are and begins to investigate the woman who took them, Vivian Maier. He googles
her and nothing, he can't believe work so good is not known.
There had been other suitcases and trunks in the
auction and he tracks down who won bids for them and purchases them. He googles
her name for the second time, and he finds she has recently passed. He tracks
down people who knew her and they said she was a hoarder and they were going to
clear out her storage shed if he wanted to come.
He does, hoarder is an understatement, he takes a
whole range of boxes and finds the most amazing and ordinary things from her
life. He decides this is a good idea for a project and he will do an exhibition
of her work and try to find out about her.
This is when things get interesting, and I won't
give away too much, but Vivian was complex, unusual, eccentric, never married
nor had children, and was a nanny. She also had a dark side.
John Maloof is the young man who found the photos, is behind their preservation, and directed the film along with Charlie
Siskel. His understanding of the significance of the negatives is serendipitous,
and his pains to get to the bottom of the story and show the world her
incredible art is nothing short of miraculous.
I was going to add some of her photos here, but
really, you need to see them on the big screen, the impact of them, her style,
their magnificence is something to behold.
This film is a piece of art itself, the way it was shot, the interviews with those that knew her, the footage found, the unveiling of Vivian, and the journey across the globe to find out about her is presented in such a beautiful way, I was incredibly moved.
In fact, the way the documentary unfolds is
wonderful, like a thriller, you are kept on the edge of your seat, wondering,
"what next?"
It is such a human story, I laughed and I wept,
and I wondered about this woman and why she led her life as she did...which of
course you need to see the film to understand what I mean.
I saw this at The Regal, and unsure if they will
show it again, but if you get the opportunity to see this documentary, you
simply must, especially if you love photography (as I do)!!
It is nominated for Best Documentary at The
Academy Awards and is one of the frontrunners to win.
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