Having acutely sensitive hearing is both a blessing and a curse for Niki White as played by Leo Woodall. Though his auditory condition ended a promising musical career, it’s been a boon for his job as a piano tuner. Together with his genial mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), he spends his days travelling back and forth across New York, tending to instruments that require his special skills. These duties also compel the typically taciturn Niki to come out of his protective shell and interact with such people as Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a music composition student with whom he feels a spark. But when shady individuals discover that Niki’s talents could be just as useful on locked safes as they are on old Steinways, events take a dangerous turn — adding thrills of a heist flick to a film that’s already remarkably fleet-footed as a drama and a romance.
Indeed, TUNER marks a confident shift toward narrative filmmaking for Daniel Roher, whose previous efforts include the Oscar-winning documentary NAVALNY and Robbie Robertson/The Band doc ONCE WERE BROTHERS. Written by Roher and Robert Ramsey, the whip-smart script also serves as a convincing demonstration of Woodall’s leading-man mettle. The chemistry he develops with Liu becomes one of the film’s great pleasures, as do the equally terrific turns by the cast’s screen veterans, with Hoffman, Tovah Feldshuh and Jean Reno all helping ensure Roher’s thriller maintains its perfect pitch.
“‘It’s not about hearing. It’s about feeling,’ Harry explains, and the same goes for Daniel Roher’s pitch-perfect indie drama, which cleverly plays our emotions without resorting to cheap manipulation…. A laid-back rom-com crossed with a low-key crime thriller, combined with something more serious — unafraid to ask existential questions about overcoming a handicap that directly impacts one’s art.” —Peter Debruge, Variety “A pitch-perfect heist thriller that quite literally hits all the right notes…. Even in its harrowing moments (of which there are a few), TUNER never sensationalizes its heist plot, opting for a realistic approach to a story that is already so grounded in the everyday lives of these people.” —Graeme Guttman, Screen Rant
