jfJortlanh (Dbscrticr
June 4, 2014
Finding Vivian Maier
of his subjects display a willingness
to reflect on (or at least to demon
strate) what their interaction with
Maier's story says about them.
One o f her em ployers seems
alm ost to argue with M aier in the
guise of arguing with the film m ak
ers. A nother fusses a bit about
her struggles to end M aier's time
with their fam ily. A friend ex
p r e s s e s re g r e t fo r h a v in g
"dropped the ball" during an en
counter with M aier late in her life,
mindful of the family concerns that
distracted her from loneliness that
she m ight have addressed. Often
you see a flicker of recognition of
things missed.
The result is a film that applies a
kind of reverence to reflecting on
this person's life which not only
honors her but, indirectly, offers
some instruction on attentiveness.
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 9
are fascinating. They reveal a tall,
so m e w h a t a w k w a rd w o m an
("seven feet" says one o f her
form er charges, before correcting
herself), often w earing a long
m ensw ear coat and hat, yet also
displaying a sense of style, an
instinct for how to present her
self. One wonders at this appar
ent loner's persistence in captur
ing arresting im ages that place
her in the broader world.
The film m akers don't attempt to
sum Maier up, or resolve her contra
dictions. Instead, they attend to
her. What some critics have called
obsessive struck me as a quality of
attention that is all too missing in
the world, a sort of mindful curiosity
and genuine regard.
Importantly, M aloof and many
Maier seems a particularly com
pelling mystery now, but in life she
was by turns odd and ordinary, a
quiet woman without money, fam
ily, or connections. Evidently she
was damaged, and not well-adjusted
by any conventional standard. But
as the filmmakers discover, she had
traveled the world, had relatives in
the French Alps who still remember
her, and displayed wit and a crack
ling intelligence. And a prodigious
talent.
Maier's photographs reveal an
inquisitiveness about human expe
rience that is too often lacking in the
world. And so does this lovely and
remarkable film.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on the
Oregon Court o f Appeals and the
first woman o f color to serve in that
capacity. Her movie review column
Opinionated Judge appears regu
larly in The Portland Observer. You
can f i n d h e r m o vie b lo g at
opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com.
Page 15
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