Finding Vivian Maier – DVD review

Directed by John Maloof, Charlie Siskel, 2013

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John Maloof was a student when he chanced upon a few boxes of undeveloped negatives by unknown amateur photographer Vivian Maier at an auction. When he looked at them closely, he had that spine-tingling realisation that these were the works of a genius.

Playful, daring, thought-provoking and humane, Maier’s 100,000 pictures are now recognised as one of the most valuable documentary records of everyday life in mid-20th century America, to rival Robert Frank or Diane Arbus.

This utterly engaging, pacy film tells the story of how Maloof uncovered who Maier was: a nanny, a loner, a hoarder – but, above all, a woman with an irrepressible curiosity about the world around her.