"Finding Vivian Maier" is one of the strangest documentaries I've seen in a very long time. Strange, however, does not mean it's bad--the movie is one that surprised me with how much I was drawn into this highly unique woman's life. And, it's just debuted on Netflix in case you'd like to give it a try, as it's amazingly original and worth your time.

When the documentary begins, a young and rather unusual young man, John Maloof, talks to the camera to explain how he came to know Vivian Maier. One day, a huge box full of photographs was being auctioned off and he bought it on a lark. It turned out that the pictures were amazingly good photographs of various everyday people taken in the 1950s. However, the pictures had a very artistic touch and it was obvious that the photographer was no novice---they had the eye of a wonderful artist. Armed only with a bit of information, John began researching for more on this woman. To his surprise, he learned that this Vivian Maier was a governess and maid--not a professional photographer. However, the story soon gets MUCH stranger. It turns out that there is a storage unit filled with her belongings and Miss Maier has recently died. And, with no apparently last of kin, Maloof buys the contents of the unit. Inside are boxes and boxes and suitcase after suitcase filled with approximately 100,000 photos taken from 1951 up towards the present. And, in addition, are many, many roles of undeveloped film-- and who knows what wonderful treasures are on these films?

The film, however, does not just talk about her photos or qualities as an artist. Instead, John goes on a journey to try to find people who knew Vivian in order to help him assemble her life story. What he finds is often contradictory, quite confusing and, above all, very strange. It seems that Vivian really had difficulty connecting with people and didn't remain on her jobs very long. She also created a persona of a French woman--though it turns out she was born in New York! Additionally, aside from one family with which she worked for about six years, most of her jobs seem to have lasted only a few months or perhaps a year (this was the case with Phil Donohue's family back about 1970--yes THAT Phil Donahue)! The reasons are not simple to explain without seeing the film, but could be boiled down to the fact that she was, as one person put it, a 'damaged person'--with so much emotional baggage and weird behaviors that she was unable to really connect with others. She could not allow herself to be physically or emotionally touched by others and her photos are a possible unusual way of connecting with the world. What else do you learn? Well, see the film--as the story takes many unusual twists and turns. Overall, it's less like a biography and more like a forensic case where some people are trying to re- create a dead person by interviewing all those who knew her during her odd life as well as using Maier's own photographs, film footage and audio tapes. And, what's really unusual is that most of the people she knew seemed to have no idea that she was a great artist...as she took this secret to her grave.

Fascinating....this is probably the word that best describes this film. You just have to see it to believe it and although many might think twice about seeing a documentary or a film about a strange eccentric, I heartily recommend you give this movie a chance. You won't regret it.

John Maloof buys one lot of photo negatives at a local auction house for $380 in 2007. He's looking for old pictures of Chicago to put in a picture book. He purchases the rest of the negatives from the other buyers and finds out after goggling that she was actually just a nanny. Her works find recognition as Maloof starts displaying them. She was also a pack rat and he pieces together her life from all of material she saved up. She seems like an eccentric private person who took pictures all the time. She would even bring her young charges to the slums to take interesting photographs. He continues to dig into her life and finds some fascinating mysteries.

First off, the pictures look beautiful. I really like the photos of people especially. Shooting from below gives a majesty to the subjects. That's the hook. Then there is the mystery of the nanny. It's a fascinating reveal as Maloof interview some of Vivian's charges. The fact that she seems to be alone raises the mystery factor. The only drawback is Maloof himself. There is probably some self serving purpose going on here and he's not the best narrator for the purpose. However I'm just drawn in by this private woman. I find her fascinating.

This documentary is director John Maloof's first work. While I thought, as a whole, it was a good piece of work, I have some criticisms too. First of all, when he interviews practically himself, it really gets a bit too self-promoting for my taste. yes he is the one who found the negatives, but still, there are ways this could have been handled with more class. Aside from him, it is an interesting snippet that the nephew of the famous late film critic Roger Siskel was also involved with directing here.

The story can be summarized quickly. A nurse took hundreds of thousands of photos during her lifetime and these were found and made her popular after her death. While I am okay with the photos being published, I am not really okay with the filmmaker's involvement in her life. She obviously was a very secretive woman and I just cannot accept the fact that Maloof did deep research into her life and past, such as traveling to France into a small village where she lived. Due to this research, we found out that she was a very eccentric lady who obviously had to fight with her inner demons, but it just feels wrong that the public knows about her loneliness, her hoarding or her violence against children now. She should only be judged for her work as a photographer in my opinion (except by the people who she was directly in contact with),but not for everything else by the broad masses. Especially the insight into her life as an old lady is pretty sad and I cannot imagine she would have wanted the public to know about any of it. Interviews are mostly with people she knew directly, including Phil Donahue and excluding a very random comment added by actor Tim Roth at one point.

All in all, I would still recommend this documentary, but the only thing which it is really worth watching for, are the photos, thankfully the center of the film. Most of these are simply wonderful and depict her extraordinary talent.