In the early seventies, Robert Caro was a hardworking journalist struggling to make ends meet. Fascinated with Robert Moses who built much of modern New York, he’d started researching a biography of him. His editor was Robert Gottlieb, who’d go on to run Knopf Publishing and The New Yorker. With “The Power Broker” a hit, Caro would reteam with Gottlieb on his multi-volume work of Lyndon Johnson. Gottlieb’s daughter Lizzie explores both these remarkable men, and a sometimes contentious but highly fruitful partnership spanning half a century.

Director Gottlieb gives us a warm, intimate portrait of both Caro and her father, Bob Gottlieb. The affection between father and daughter creates touching moments, but this fascinating film also offers frank, clear-eyed perspective on two men with outsize intellects (and perhaps, egos), who crossed swords frequently but also complemented each other beautifully. Caro is more reserved, Gottlieb more the extrovert, but both are self-aware and articulate about their respective roles and purpose. Though neither professes to be each other’s “pal”, the deep, abiding respect they have for each other jumps off the screen, and it’s a lovely thing to witness.