California Typewriter

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 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.

When this movie was released, it was reviewed as a sort of fun feature, almost an indulgence on Hanks' part. But it is so much more! It is potent and impotent! How the soul wends its way from our depths to the printed page, with a little boost from an amalgamation of moving metal parts. Magic! And indeed it is. There are so few things that we do any longer that allow us, in an expanse of time, to create and to have in hand our creation.

All of the characters are engaging and invite us to participate in their worlds as they become creators and preservers of machines or creators of art with those same machines. Design and the care and handling of that design. And love. Unfathomable, mysterious love for these odd little machines with so many moving parts and quirky sounds that let us sit down and write ourselves a letter, or to tell the world just exactly how we fell.

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.

Unlikely, but well-done documentary which examines the history and current status of the lowly typewriter via commentary from people having diverse perspectives: the long-established but struggling repair shop operators; the antiquity collectors of the earliest models; the people, some famous, who still use and romantically embrace their antiquated machines; a small group who performs percussive 'music' with typewriters; and a super creative artist who turns unusable typewriters and their parts into incredible pieces of art.

Filming, Editing, and musical soundtrack were superb.

Intelligent and entertaining, a historical, sociological, and philosophical all-in-one study well worth the price of admission.