Tuner
On paper, Daniel Roher's piano tuner turned safe cracker yarn sounds a bit generic, but Roher's sharp direction and the excellent performances from Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman make it more than worth your while
Niki White (Leo Woodall), the protagonist of Tuner, has extraordinary hearing. It is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. Niki has perfect pitch, and if his life had played out differently, he may have fulfilled his potential as a virtuoso concert pianist, but Niki also suffers from hyperacusis. The everyday loud noises that most of us find mildly annoying cause debilitating pain to his ultra-sensitive eardrums, with Niki always keeping his ears plugged and often wearing noise-cancelling headphones just to get through the day in the auditory maelstrom of New York City, where he works as an apprentice to veteran piano tuner Harry (Dustin Hoffman).
The unique gifts that make Niki an expert piano tuner turn out to have other, less savoury applications, with his sharp hearing also making him an excellent safecracker. Tuner’s director Daniel Roher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Ramsey, takes pains to emphasise an altruistic bent to Niki’s safecracking escapades. He first develops this skill when Harry accidentally locks his hearing aids inside his home safe, and when Niki finds himself enlisted by a criminal gang and partaking in increasingly lucrative heists, his prime motivation is simply to cover his ailing mentor’s mounting hospital bills.
Daniel Roher won an Oscar in 2023 for Navalny, his documentary portrait of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident and political prisoner who was poisoned by Putin. His newest film couldn’t be a more surprising change of pace, but he takes to narrative filmmaking with consummate ease. His direction has an appealing verve and he puts together some snappy sequences with the aid of Greg O'Bryant’s tight editing, but what really distinguishes Tuner is the way he grounds this story in character and displays a sure hand with his actors.
The film’s opening scenes immediately establish a sense of warmth between Niki and Harry. Despite his increasingly frail form, Harry still loves his work, which he sees as an art in itself. “It's not about hearing, it's about feeling,” he tells Niki as they fine-tune pianos for rich customers who see them as little more than labourers; a running gag has them being asked to move furniture or fix plumbing issues after they’re finished with the piano. Hoffman’s garrulous, charismatic turn contrasts well with the more brooding Woodall. He initially gives Niki a withdrawn and tentative quality, displaying the effects of feeling disconnected from the world for so many years, and it’s touching to see him gradually open up as he begins a relationship with aspiring pianist Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu).
Tuner successfully makes you root for these characters, and as Niki gets deeper into trouble with the intimidating Uri (Lior Raz), Roher proves adept at ratcheting up the tension, often utilising some expert sound design to make us feel the impact a gunshot or blaring horn can have on Niki’s perception. Such neat directorial touches elevate the kind of screenplay that could be criticised for being too neatly assembled or adhering to a standard template. Roher may be playing familiar notes here, but he does it with enough energy and nuance to make his composition feel fresh.
Released 29 May by Black Bear; certificate 15