The Rubber-Keyed Wonder: Review. By Christopher Patterson.

A Vibrant and Quite Hooking Documentary

The Rubber-Keyed Wonder really surprised me. Honestly, going in, my only hope was to not be bored. Documentaries never usually hook me since they can meander, be poorly produced, and just be boring to sit through. But I was shocked from start to finish. I was actually mostly hooked. Yeah, it can be a bit too much in regards to its spilling of constant information, and yes, it can feel like a docu that expects you to know at least some information regarding Clive and the ZX Spectrum that might make it more of a chore to sit through, but it’s worth it. It really is.

Firstly, to know if this docu is your vibe, I recommend going through the first three or so minutes. The intro of this documentary sets up the vibe of this documentary. It has the information about the person in question, Clive Sinclair, but also makes sure not to bore you with all the details, and you see that with the cut to these kids looking at devices.It has this cozy vibe to it all that makes for a nice watch on a chill afternoon. 

Also, this documentary does this little thing that makes it superior to most documentaries. It doesn’t stay on one shot forever. The docu never stays five minutes on someone talking about something. In other words, it juggles the hard task of keeping your attention, always followed with awesome use of sources. Though, it can be a bit too quick in its cutting from shot to shot. 

One failure of many documentaries is the lack of data. I can count a dozen that barely give a source or a photo to support anything said. But here the docu succeeds. While we hear multiple people discuss Clive, for instance, it is always cutting to shots of Clive and dozens of sources that help not just to keep the viewers attention but make it fun to pause and try to look for a while at the photo or information presented. 

As someone who knows, to be frank, absolutely nothing about electronics, like at all, I feel like I learned something from this documentary. But, at the same time, I felt like there was more I could’ve learned if the documentary leaned more into more conversational dialogue. Much of the dialogue here never gives the casual viewer a chance to really sit back and digest all that is thrown out. While I gained some knowledge, I feel like a chance of truly slowing down the narrative and discussing things deeper was lost. While I found out more about Clive, for instance, I felt honestly extremely disappointed; the documentary never really gave you an introduction to him. He just appears, and hopefully you know him or you will be kind of thrown into his documentary.

And, if I had to think about it, that is kind of an issue with this documentary. Simply put, there are simply parts of this documentary that go from a to b at a point that makes me, someone who loves fast films, still have to rewatch parts at least four times to make sure I didn’t miss anything. 

VERDICT

The Rubber-Keyed Wonder is worth a watch, but a notebook feels required when viewing it unless you’re a tech expert. For myself, while I enjoyed it and have a lot to say about it, I can’t help but want to write about what could’ve been this documentary if it either took its time or was less too much information at once and even too many shots at once. With that, it’s an almost exhausting, but nonetheless excellent watch. 

3.5/5

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