This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The documentary "Finding Vivian Maier" seeks to unravel a mystery — about a very private woman whose street photography has been discovered after her death — while opening up troubling questions about the woman.
The story starts when John Maloof, a historian (and the movie's co-director, with Charlie Siskel), bought some negatives at an estate sale. Maloof scanned the negatives and posted them online, but learned almost nothing about the photographer until just after her death.
She was Vivian Maier, who worked as a nanny for many years, but never showed her art to anyone. Maloof, as on-camera narrator, and Siskel follow Maier's trail, interviewing families who hired her and children she raised.
What emerges is a portrait of an observant artist and an emotionally fragile woman, who may or may not have been upset with the attention to the art she so carefully hid while she was alive.
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'Finding Vivian Maier'
Opens Friday, April 18, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas; not rated, but probably PG-13 for mature themes and language; 83 minutes.