Arthur Miller Writer (HBOGo)

Biographical documentaries made by the children of the subject often fall into two equally grating tropes: they are either about deifying the subject or coming to grasp with a person who may not have been as wonderful in their private life as their public persona suggests. Arthur Miller: Writer, the new biography of the legendary playwright by his daughter Rebecca Miller, makes the case that it is possible to create one that avoids those tropes and genuinely opens up the subject to a new image. That is because the younger Miller — herself a wonderful filmmaker and writer — knows all the right questions to ask that will bring out the most honest side of her father.

With over 20 years of interviews collected and assembled, along with wonderful home videos and archival footage, Miller paints a complex portrait of a man who was a great artist, a great man, and who managed to fight against a series of struggles through his life, both of his own making and from outside forces. She gets him to admit his faults, and also celebrates his accomplishments (smartly, she uses playwright Tony Kushner and director Mike Nichols to celebrate the wonderful plays Miller wrote). In the end, it all comes together as a portrait of a great artist, personal and professional and a celebration of what great art can be.

Muppet Guys Talking (muppetguystalking.com)

Although this one-hour documentary often plays more like a DVD supplement than a complete film, there is a lot to be gleaned from Muppet Guys Talking. The film consists of little more than five Muppet puppeteers — generally referred to as Muppeteers — sitting around a few couches sharing war stories, tricks of the trade, and, most importantly, memories of mentor Jim Henson, but those stories are often so heartfelt and insightful that they make up for a lack of real narrative thrust. It is probably of most interest to those, like me, who are true Muppet fanatics (and to whom names like Bill Barretta and Fran Brill mean a lot), but as a journey into the minds of true craftsmen and an opening up an artform that often doesn’t get the credit it deserves.