California Typewriter

I stumbled over this documentary and was soon captured. Perhaps because I recalled 10-year-old me beginning an unwritten novel on mother's new Smith Corona portable and 14-year-old me banging on clunky manuals in middle school typing classes. I suspect that for many of the collectors featured in this show, now-impractical devices trigger nostalgic yearnings for times when life seemed less complicated and more enjoyable.

Filmmaker Doug Nichol offers both recognizable celebrities and little-known folks, each with their own level of interest in, or obsession for, fading technology. Another juxtaposition involves people preserving outdated machines and a sculptor deconstructing them to give machine parts new life in unique art forms.

As the program evolves, it becomes less about machines and more about the people who treasure them.

I am a Tom Hanks fan and happened on this one by chance on Hulu. The film drew me in right from the beginning and I was captivated by the amazing cast of characters and the world of typewriters - something I never really knew about. What impressed me most was the emotion in this film - I really felt for the family and their shop and hope they can keep it going. We need more people like this in the world. Beautiful!

I saw this film last year at the Cleveland Film Festival and absolutely fell in love with it. It's not so much about typewriters as it is about people & human connectivity in an increasing digital world. I watched it again the other evening on Amazon and fell in love with the characters and their lives all over again. It's a very emotional and beautiful film that just flows over you. Bravo!

I am a typewriter user and also a long time Sam Shepard fan. I found this to be a quite fascinating film. I was expecting it to be an examination of the machine, yet it was more like an examination of our current world and both the good and the bad that comes from the digital/computer revolution. That said it did more than satisfy my lust at seeing so many beautiful machines - some that I would love to own someday. The stories of the characters and especially the repairman were very rich and detailed. I have recommended this film to a number of freinds.

I am a writer. I have children who love to explore, tinker and create. This documentary has given me the insight and freedom to move the broken and working into different categories. I adore fixing manual typewriters and keeping them in pristine condition. But having children and this doc I now also enjoy them using the broken pieces or very damaged typewriters for other usage. Art, animatronics, fixing other toys etc. As I say, they are fixed and they are now usable. I wish people would use them. Even I unfortunately don't use them. Technology has long surpassed them. But every once and a while I take one out of storage, type whatever my heart desires and enjoy it much like a glass of fine wine. C'est la vie.