Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Fresh and Exciting

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

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/

An unknown street photographer pops onto the scene posthumously, changing the landscape of the art form, Finding Vivian Maier is that story. Finding Vivan Maier is a documentary about the reclusive and mysterious woman who devoted her life to taking photography, and yet, never let any of it be seen. Written and directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, Finding Vivan Maier tells of John Maloof's journey to discover this odd woman's life and to ensure her legacy is remembered. The documentary is sure to be a hit amongst avid photographers and lovers of photography as an art form. In that regard it is quite compelling, especially due to enigmatic nature of its subject, Vivian Maier. However, due to its limited scope it does not have an overreaching ability to captivate mass audiences that would otherwise show little interest in the material. Finding Vivian Maier is significantly aided in its successfulness by the bizarre personality of this prolific but, until now, unrecognized artist. As the documentary progresses, we follow along with John Maloof as he utilizes various means to unearth this woman's background and nature, a feat made increasingly difficult by her reclusive and private character. Of course, an artist being secretive is not unusual, but being the first to explore it still yields a fascinating and intriguing documentary. We do so through the now grown children she nannied for and a very limited circle of friends. Omitted from the documentary are interviews with those members of the art world that still fail to acknowledge Vivian Maier as a distinguishable photographer, and it certainly is a missed opportunity. As certain individuals within the documentary state, perhaps the mystery of her is more interesting than the work itself. But this obscured and even troubled woman left an unusual trail of breadcrumbs in the forms of unpublished photo negatives as evidence for us, and the producers of the film Finding Vivian Maier, to construct an understanding of this riveting individual. Ultimately, it is nice that the documentary can be another vehicle to get her work out there to garner further appreciation and recognition from the industry.

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

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.