AppleTV Documentary Review: Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost is a Loving Tribute

You don’t understand the loss of your parents until it happens to you. The Stiller family, led by Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller’s Son Ben, have crafted an outstanding tribute to the talented couple who broke into show business on The Ed Sullivan Show and entertained America for decades. The documentary follows siblings Amy and Ben Stiller as they clear the apartment they grew up in on the Upper West Side to sell after their father’s passing. Throughout their lives as a family, Jerry Stiller documented his and his family’s lives through audio tapes and home videos. The film begins with Amy and Ben meeting in the apartment and follows the siblings through the important final step of caregiving: taking care of their parents’ belongings after their passing.

Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost is a beautifully crafted documentary grounded in love and laughter, and it felt like home. The craft it took to weave a compelling story out of a lifetime of intimate family photographs, home videos, audio recordings, clips from performances on TV, Film, and theater, and interviews, while in the midst of closing down their parents’ lives, must have been an…