This is story about unknown photographer Vivian Maier who is discovered after her death which you probably already know since you're reading the reviews. I loved her life story and her work but documentary could have been less amateur. Maybe that guy Maloof could get a real director and writer to make documentary for him and not put himself into story. You should watch it just to see how amazing she was and to see her beautiful work but other than that documentary is poorly written and directed. Sad to see someone ruin such a good story and potentially good movie.

Thank you, John Maloof, for collecting Ms. Maier's work, making it available to the public, and compiling information about her for this documentary.With regards to her work itself, I would give it a 10 out of 10. In my opinion she was a better photographer than Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange, Garry Winogrand, and Steve McCurry, other photographers who took portraits. Just do a Google image search with her name. Wow. The things that make her work stand out are the purity of the art, the lack of self consciousness, the art for art's sake feel that immediately takes you to the subject and the story and does not draw attention to the artist herself, the prolificacy of the body of work. It spoke immediately to my heart. I have never encountered a better photographer. The fact that she remains relatively obscure is unfair, but I have a feeling she wouldn't mind. I think she did it all for the sake of the art itself and nothing more, not money, not fame, not attention or admiration from others. This approach to the work shows itself in the result. No other way to approach the art would have generated an equivalent result.The reason I give the film 7 out of 10 stars is that I feel that the film views her from a bit of a condescending point of view because of some of the ways in which she was eccentric and self effacing, but I won't go into details lest I generate spoilers. I wish everyone who is into photography would check her out. She deserves more credit than she is getting, not that I think she would have cared, but it is the world that loses out if it doesn't pay more attention to her work.

Growing up, I had a secret hiding spot where I squirreled away my coin and rock collections, grade school memorabilia, and various important (to me) trinkets. What if my secret hiding spot was the size of an enormous storage unit, contained thousands of rolls of undeveloped film and oodles of bric-a-brac, and went completely undiscovered until after my death? And, by the way, my mountain of photographs are astoundingly well-done. Well, get to know Vivian Maier.This is a wonderful documentary about an eccentric woman. She is revealed through interviews, photographs, and snippets of video and audio from Maier herself. The young man who discovered her work, by chance, has done an excellent job of weaving a narrative that unfurls slowly, always pulling you deeper down the rabbit hole. The pacing is good, the plot has interesting twists, and, by the end of the film you feel that the character, Maier, a real person, is someone special that the world should have known better when she was alive.It's not a big spoiler that Maier is deceased. The whole premise for this film is that her hidden artistic life lay fallow in an existence made up of temporary nannying gigs, punctuated by abrupt departures from the families that gave her shelter and a salary. Living this menial life, she completely blended into the background. Not until Maier passed away, and her belongings were auctioned off, did her impressive artistic prowess come to light.Maier is mysterious, to say the least. She spells her name several ways. She doesn't let people get very close, yet she seems to yearn for camaraderie, a place to belong. Her family history is a sub-plot that gives this doc some of its turns, but I'll leave those for the viewer. Maier is, as Churchill said, a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. An hour-and-one-half-long documentary cannot possibly reveal all there is about this lost soul. But the effort is laudable, and Maier's talent is noteworthy.The film has a satisfying conclusion, but it does leave the viewer wanting more. Like me, you'll find yourself Googling Vivian Maier to find out details of her life, her work, and this story. It's an interesting and engrossing tale. I recommend it.

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.